First deputy General Prosecutor of Kazakhstan Iogan Merkel. Photo courtesy of vesti.kz
Great Britain and Switzerland are not interested in an agreement on extradition with Kazakhstan, KazTAG reports citing first deputy General Prosecutor of Kazakhstan Iogan Merkel. “Great Britain and Switzerland do not want to sign an agreement on extradition, they refer to recommendations of the European Council. They say they don’t want to sign a bilateral agreement,” he said at the meeting in the Senate of Kazakhstan on October 2. According to Merkel, Germany also refuses to ratify these agreement. “It did not refer to the European Council, it said that the number of cases was too small. But evidently their officials did not work well, because we received 16 requests for legal aid from Germany alone in the past several years. We have transferred Germany’s citizens to serve their sentences in their country. That means they did not consider this issue thoroughly enough,” deputy General Prosecutor said. Kazakhstan Majilis has already ratified the draft law On ratification of the Convention between Kazakhstan and Spain on mutual legal support on criminal cases and On ratification of the agreement between Kazakhstan and Iran on extradition. In the beginning of 2009 General Prosecutor’s office initiated a criminal case against former chairman of BTA Bank Mukhtar Ablyazov in suspicion of fraud and artificial 'inflation' of the bank’s capital to attract foreign investments. Mukhtar Ablyazov fled the country and moved to Great Britain. Besides, other former heads of BTA Bank Roman Solodchenko, Ildar Khazhayev and several others are on the international wanted list for embezzlement of the bank’s assets. They also received political asylum in Great Britain. Besides, former Akim (Mayor) of Almaty and Kazakhstan Emergency Situations Minister Viktor Khrapunov, also on the international wanted list, currently lives in Switzerland. He is considered one of the richest people in Switzerland. Several criminal cases were initiated against him and his wife Leila Khrapunova for commitment of a range of corruption and economic crimes. The court issued an arrest warrant against them.
Great Britain and Switzerland are not interested in an agreement on extradition with Kazakhstan, KazTAG reports citing first deputy General Prosecutor of Kazakhstan Iogan Merkel.
“Great Britain and Switzerland do not want to sign an agreement on extradition, they refer to recommendations of the European Council. They say they don’t want to sign a bilateral agreement,” he said at the meeting in the Senate of Kazakhstan on October 2.
According to Merkel, Germany also refuses to ratify these agreement. “It did not refer to the European Council, it said that the number of cases was too small. But evidently their officials did not work well, because we received 16 requests for legal aid from Germany alone in the past several years. We have transferred Germany’s citizens to serve their sentences in their country. That means they did not consider this issue thoroughly enough,” deputy General Prosecutor said.
Kazakhstan Majilis has already ratified the draft law On ratification of the Convention between Kazakhstan and Spain on mutual legal support on criminal cases and On ratification of the agreement between Kazakhstan and Iran on extradition.
In the beginning of 2009 General Prosecutor’s office initiated a criminal case against former chairman of BTA Bank Mukhtar Ablyazov in suspicion of fraud and artificial 'inflation' of the bank’s capital to attract foreign investments. Mukhtar Ablyazov fled the country and moved to Great Britain.
Besides, other former heads of BTA Bank Roman Solodchenko, Ildar Khazhayev and several others are on the international wanted list for embezzlement of the bank’s assets. They also received political asylum in Great Britain.
Besides, former Akim (Mayor) of Almaty and Kazakhstan Emergency Situations Minister Viktor Khrapunov, also on the international wanted list, currently lives in Switzerland. He is considered one of the richest people in Switzerland. Several criminal cases were initiated against him and his wife Leila Khrapunova for commitment of a range of corruption and economic crimes. The court issued an arrest warrant against them.