Wanted by 4 countries, ex-banker faces extradition

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By LORI HINNANT

PARIS (AP) - He is wanted in his native Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia. He was ordered jailed in Britain.

An opposition leader from a country that has been ruled by the same man since 1989, a former banker accused of siphoning off billions, Mukhtar Ablyazov has been jailed since police special forces seized him July 31 in the south of France. On Thursday, a judge is expected to rule on his extradition.

Courts in London have frozen his assets and issued more than $4 billion in judgments against Ablyazov, who fled Britain days just before he was convicted of contempt of court. The Kazakh is often compared with Mikhail Khodorkovsky for making his fortune during the wild post-Soviet years, then running afoul of the political leadership when he started using his wealth to bankroll the opposition.

"This is not a story about a bank. This is not a story about a theft. This is a settling of political scores," said Peter Sahlas, a lawyer representing Ablyazov.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140108/DAB6FQEO0.html

[tazkcmo]

1. He should come to US

Banksters are safe here.

[Divernan]

2. Yup! Obama can appoint him to a cabinet post or top level treasury job!

Timmy Geithner can find a spot for him at the private equity firm Geithner is now pres. of (Warburg Pincus), OR former CIA director/US Army Gen. David Petraeus can squeeze him in at private equity firm, Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts, where Petraeus has landed. And so the circle of wealth and corruption continues.

[valerief]

3. +1

[dipsydoodle]

4. Aside from extradition requests from Russia and the Ukraine

sounds like he's still due a prison sentence in the UK anyway which doesn't require an extradition order - France and the UK are both EU. Seems to be something amiss that he's not banged up here in the UK already.

[santamargarita]

5. Banksters everywhere should be on the run!

[dipsydoodle]

6. France to extradite Kazakh tycoon Mukhtar Ablyazov

A French court has ruled that Kazakh tycoon and dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov should be extradited to Russia or Ukraine to face fraud charges.

He is accused of stealing billions of dollars from the Kazakh BTA Bank, which also operates in Russia and Ukraine.

The court said Russia should take priority. He was arrested on the French Riviera last July.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25664782