![Rakhat Aliyev. Photo courtesy of azattyq.org](/userdata/news_en/2014/news_26861/thumb_b/photo_38492.jpg)
Rakhat Aliyev left Malta back in summer 2013, Tengrinews reports citing MaltaToday. The Deputy Attorney General Donatella Frendo Dimech says that Rakhat Aliyev was not a permanent resident of Malta at the tine when police were asked to investigate him on accusations of torturing two people to extract forced confessions. Aliyev was residing in Malta when the complaint was made, but he only had freedom of movement because his wife was an EU citizen. Besides the Maltese police could not have prosecuted the Kazakhstan fugitive anyway, because there were no legal grounds for them to do so. The prosecution had no argument on the alleged crime itself, Dr Frendo Dimech says. Police Inspector Raymond Aquilina confirms that police investigations revealed that Rakhat Alijev was no longer in Malta. "He is neither at any of his properties or companies, nor was he seen at the places he frequented. The police last spoke to him in May 2013," he is quoted by Malta Today as saying. In June 2013 the Maltese court arrested the property and froze the accounts of Aliyev right after Malta received a request from Germany to conduct an investigation into Rakhat Aliyev's money laundering case. The accusations of torture and serious white collar crime accusations are not the only ones raised against the ex Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria Rakhat Aliyev. He is being investigated in Austria, Germany and Malta, and a criminal inquiry on suspicion of murder and abduction were launched in Austria. He is accused in money laundering and other crimes in several European Union countries. In 2008 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a number of grave crimes, including kidnapping, treason and plotting a coup d'etat in Kazakhstan. The sentence was given to him in absentia, because Aliyev had been hiding in Austria since spring 2007. After that he was living in Malta since 2010.
Rakhat Aliyev left Malta back in summer 2013, Tengrinews reports citing MaltaToday.
The Deputy Attorney General Donatella Frendo Dimech says that Rakhat Aliyev was not a permanent resident of Malta at the tine when police were asked to investigate him on accusations of torturing two people to extract forced confessions. Aliyev was residing in Malta when the complaint was made, but he only had freedom of movement because his wife was an EU citizen.
Besides the Maltese police could not have prosecuted the Kazakhstan fugitive anyway, because there were no legal grounds for them to do so. The prosecution had no argument on the alleged crime itself, Dr Frendo Dimech says.
Police Inspector Raymond Aquilina confirms that police investigations revealed that Rakhat Alijev was no longer in Malta. "He is neither at any of his properties or companies, nor was he seen at the places he frequented. The police last spoke to him in May 2013," he is quoted by Malta Today as saying.
In June 2013 the Maltese court arrested the property and froze the accounts of Aliyev right after Malta received a request from Germany to conduct an investigation into Rakhat Aliyev's money laundering case. The accusations of torture and serious white collar crime accusations are not the only ones raised against the ex Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria Rakhat Aliyev. He is being investigated in Austria, Germany and Malta, and a criminal inquiry on suspicion of murder and abduction were launched in Austria. He is accused in money laundering and other crimes in several European Union countries.
In 2008 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a number of grave crimes, including kidnapping, treason and plotting a coup d'etat in Kazakhstan. The sentence was given to him in absentia, because Aliyev had been hiding in Austria since spring 2007. After that he was living in Malta since 2010.