Mukhtar Ablyazov

Mukhtar Ablyazov (born 16 May 1963, Galkino, South Kazakhstan) is a Kazakh dissident, politician, economist, businessman, and banker. He is the founder and leader of ‘Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan’ (DCK), a political party which directly opposes the authoritarian rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev. He is also the author of Ablyazov against Nazarbayev.

Ablyazov is currently fighting extradition from France to Russia. In Russia, Ablyazov faces ill-treatment and unfair trial. Many Human Rights organisations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as European Parliamentarians have written to the French government advising against the extradition of Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Early life and education

In 1986, Ablyazov graduated from the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute. There he earned a degree in theoretical physics. After graduation, he worked as a junior researcher at the Kazakh National University.

In 1987, Ablyazov married Shalabayeva Alma.

In 1990, Ablyazov was enrolled in postgraduate studies in the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute. For that reason, he was fired from his role as a junior researcher at the Kazakh National University.

Career

Ablyazov started working during the fall of the Soviet Union and the start of Kazakhstan's Independence. His first job was the buying and selling of computers and copying machines. In 1991, Ablyazov registered his first company and called it "Madina," which is the name of his first daughter.

In 1992, Ablyazov started his business by supplying all the regions of Kazakhstan with products such as salt, sugar, flower, matches, tea, chocolate, and medicine. In order to run this business, Ablyazov established Astana Holding in Kazakhstan, a multi-sector private holding company, which established and consisted of: "Astana-Sugar", "Astana-Food","Aral-Salt", "The Chimkent Pasta Factory", "Astana- Medical Service", "Astana-Motors", "Astana-Interotel", "Astana-Bank", "Trade House Zhanna (furniture)."

In 1998, together with a consortium of Kazakh investors, Ablyazov acquired a loan to buy the shares in Bank TuranAlem in a privatization auction for $72 million. He later paid back the loan. The bank later came to be known as BTA Bank.

In 1997, Ablyazov was appointed as head of the state-owned Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company. KEGOC was a company close to buncruptcy at the time of his appointment as its head. In one year, he managed to make the state-owned company profitable.

In 1998, as head of KEGOC, Ablyazov was named Minister for Energy, Industry, and Trade.

Ablyazov has been described by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) as “part of a younger generation” that Nursultan Nazarbaev, president of Kazakhstan, “hoped to harness as he pushed his resource-rich nation into the 21st century.” Yet after a few years, “Ablyazov and the others had broken ranks, citing disenchantment with endemic corruption in Nazarbaev's inner circle.”

BTA Bank growth

Ablyazov served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of BTA Bank from 2005 to 2009. During Ablyazov's leadership, BTA Bank reported dynamic growth,Template:Clarify and became one of the most promising banks in the CIS. By 2008, BTA Bank had grown to become the leader in the emerging markets, the fourth-largest bank among the CIS countries, and one of the three fastest-growing banks in the world. In 2007, Euromoney magazine named BTA Bank the best bank in Central Asia and in 2008 BTA Bank received the Global Finance award.

At the same time, between 2006 and 2008, Mukhtar Ablyazov had been pressured by the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to transfer 50% of shares of BTA Bank to the state. Ablyazov refused to transfer the bank's assets into the control of Nazarbayev, and, as a result, in February 2009, the bank was nationalised under the pretext of the need to save the banking sector from bankruptcy.

In 2008, BTA Bank was the largest commercial financial institution in Kazakhstan, with internal reserves allowing for cooperation with foreign and domestic owners of the shares. At the same time, BTA Bank was the largest creditor of the Kazakh economy – the bank owned about 30% of all the loans granted to legal entities. The control over BTA Bank has been illegally adopted by the National Welfare Fund ‘Samruk-Kazyna’, a holding company owned entirely by the state, despite the healthy condition of the bank. Timur Kulibayev, Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, was the president of this fund.

24 March 2009 BTA Bank launched legal proceedings against Ablyazov in the UK High Court shortly after his arrival in London.

In September 2009, Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, injected significant funds into BTA in an effort to keep the bank solvent, effectively becoming its majority shareholder. Shortly before Samruk-Kazyna's intervention Ablyazov fled Kazakhstan to London.

In 2010, a warrant was also issued for Ablyazov's arrest in Russia, where he was charged on four counts of financial crime and placed on an international wanted list.

Ablyazov was the subject of seven legal claims in the English High Court totalling $3.7 billion (£2.26 billion).

Personal life

During his time in London, Ablyazov was described as not fitting “the Western stereotype of the fabulously wealthy businessman from the old Soviet Union. No bling, no yachts, no trophy wife and no ostentatious cars, he cuts a modest figure, favouring Marks and Spencer suits.”