Hong Kong judge freezes assets 'linked' to alleged Kazakh embezzler Ablyazov
A Hong Kong judge has agreed to a request by a Kazakh state-owned bank to freeze the assets and shares of two Hong Kong companies believed to be linked to an alleged Kazakh embezzler, Mukhtar Kabulovich Ablyazov, connected to a transnational, multibillion-dollar fraud case.
Since 2009, the Kazakh lender, JSC BTA Bank, has initiated 11 lawsuits against Ablyazov, a former Kazakh minister for energy, industry and trade, as well as his associates in England, seeking to recover more than US$5 billion. That sum includes US$4.25 billion in British court judgments which Ablyazov has not paid, Mr Justice Kevin Zervos said in his decision, dated February 17 and posted on the judiciary's website yesterday.
Ablyazov, who was chairman of the bank from 2005 to 2009, was alleged to have committed "widespread misappropriation of the bank's funds, involving billions of US dollars which he secured through a web of offshore companies controlled and managed on his behalf by nominees and associates", Zervos said. "There is a strong case against Ablyazov of misappropriating bank funds through widespread fraud and subterfuge."
Zervos granted JSC BTA Bank's request for a freezing order to prevent Ablyazov from dealing in the shares of two Hong Kong companies, Kazoil-Astana Group and Maxray Logistics, and the appointment of receivers to the two firms. "There is a strong case that Kazoil and Maxray are connected to or under the control of Ablyazov," Zervos said.
In 2008, Kazoil was involved in a legal dispute with a mainland firm, Xinjiang Yili Zhaoli Commerce and Trade, over two joint-venture companies, Beihai Hanali Petro-chemical Port and Beihai Hanali Petro-chemical Enterprise, in a petrochemical plant and port project in the coastal city of Beihai in Guangxi province, according to a legal opinion letter from the Shanghai Junhe law firm, which represented Kazoil.
Kazoil was believed to be secretly owned by Ablyazov and borrowed US$16 million from JSC BTA Bank, Zervos said.
