![Rakhat Aliyev. Photo courtesy of azattyq.org](/userdata/news_en/2012/news_14782/thumb_b/photo_22665.jpg)
Former Kazakhstan ambassador to Austria Rakhat Aliyev tried to buy into the Maltese media a year ago, but his offer was turned down, Malta Today writes. Now he is accusing the newspaper of being funded by his persecutors and working to blemish his 'taintless' reputation. The newspaper is not happy with the accusations at all and has started digging into the the reasons why a Kazakhstan multimillionaire like him, who could have lived anywhere in the world, is seeking 'refuge' in Malta under his wife's surname since 2010. Aliyev approached MaltaToday through a Maltese entrepreneur to discuss an offer to purchase this newspaper a year ago. His offer was turned down. According to the magazine, Aliyev voiced his disapproval of the newspaper's attitude when he appeared in Maltese court last week "to answer to letters rogatory from Austrian prosecutors, who are investigating his involvement in the death of two Nurbank bankers in 2007." Earlier ex-Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Akezhan Kazhegeldin applied to Maltese court with a complaint against nonfeasance of the local police that refused to investigate allegations against Rakhat Aliyev. He arrived in court with his wife Elnara Shorazova and played surprised when approached by a journalist from Malta Today. He even asked for an identification before commenting on the challenge brought by former prime minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin and his bodyguards Satzhan Ibraev and Pyotr Afanasenko, so that he is investigated for "crimes against humanity". "When the time comes I will talk, but not now. What I can say is that MaltaToday is a newspaper which has chosen to persecute me and is being financed by people who have clear intentions. I had told this to your owner. I had met him. "Your paper is not objective, and I am talking to my lawyers to sue you for defamation. This cannot go on," he said. According to the newspaper, Aliyev is going to have his book published by Progress Press owned by the publisher of The Times of Malta. However, Malta Today does not state whether the former ambassador intends to publish a new book or the one he wrote and published before.
Former Kazakhstan ambassador to Austria Rakhat Aliyev tried to buy into the Maltese media a year ago, but his offer was turned down, Malta Today writes. Now he is accusing the newspaper of being funded by his persecutors and working to blemish his 'taintless' reputation.
The newspaper is not happy with the accusations at all and has started digging into the the reasons why a Kazakhstan multimillionaire like him, who could have lived anywhere in the world, is seeking 'refuge' in Malta under his wife's surname since 2010.
Aliyev approached MaltaToday through a Maltese entrepreneur to discuss an offer to purchase this newspaper a year ago. His offer was turned down.
According to the magazine, Aliyev voiced his disapproval of the newspaper's attitude when he appeared in Maltese court last week "to answer to letters rogatory from Austrian prosecutors, who are investigating his involvement in the death of two Nurbank bankers in 2007."
Earlier ex-Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Akezhan Kazhegeldin applied to Maltese court with a complaint against nonfeasance of the local police that refused to investigate allegations against Rakhat Aliyev.
He arrived in court with his wife Elnara Shorazova and played surprised when approached by a journalist from Malta Today. He even asked for an identification before commenting on the challenge brought by former prime minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin and his bodyguards Satzhan Ibraev and Pyotr Afanasenko, so that he is investigated for "crimes against humanity".
"When the time comes I will talk, but not now. What I can say is that MaltaToday is a newspaper which has chosen to persecute me and is being financed by people who have clear intentions. I had told this to your owner. I had met him.
"Your paper is not objective, and I am talking to my lawyers to sue you for defamation. This cannot go on," he said.
According to the newspaper, Aliyev is going to have his book published by Progress Press owned by the publisher of The Times of Malta. However, Malta Today does not state whether the former ambassador intends to publish a new book or the one he wrote and published before.