Aliyev Goes Down… But For What?
James from Robert Amsterdam sends along the following: Rakhat Aliyev has supposedly been arrested by Austrian officials in connection with the Nurbank kidnapping scandal. Is that really the case? Look at the last paragraph:
The bizarre developments around Alijev also delayed the potential sale of Nurbank, Kazakhstan’s seventh largest bank to two Austrian banks, Bank Austria and Raiffeisen International. According to the business magazine Format, both banks were interested in the bank which is controlled by Alijev.
A Reuters report on the arrest doesn’t mention the bank connection, so I’m unsure if it could in any way be connected. But remember how I was speculating that Aliyev would seek asylum, since there was a definite political aspect to his sudden arrest warrant? And how he had actually requested asylum?
Well… I can’t escape thinking that Austria is selling out Aliyev so it can buy Nurbank. That’s certainly not a given, as Aliyev is a very nasty man and he really should be tried for a lot of his deeply unethical (and criminal) behavior. But the appearance of a conflict of interest on Austria’s part is disquieting, especially if it sets a precedent elsewhere.
I’m sure there is more to this; as I dig things up, I’ll post.
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Tags: Kazakhstan, Europe.
Posted by Joshua Foust on June 1st, 2007
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Comments
Time: 6/2/2007, 2:26 am
Look, Bush (Halliburton) goes looking for Ben Laden everywhere you chose to, and find an oil in Iraq and uncle Nazzy slaps his son in laws’s wrist and sells Nurbank to Austrian Reiffeisen bank. It’s all about doing business and making money.
Those big case don’t give a f. word for what we say…
Time: 6/2/2007, 4:47 am
KZ -
Exactly. Kazakhstan and Austria don’t have a formal extradition treaty, so the negotiations for Aliyev’s release are going to be… involved. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that this case is used as leverage in the Nurbank sale.
Time: 6/1/2007, 11:07 pm
Nice catch! I was not aware of that. Rumors here are that Austria said they won’t allow Kazakhstan police to arrest him on the territory of Austria. Which I would imagine is standard policy–he should be extradited first, yes?