BTA court hearing held today in Almaty

business and economy

By SRI ⋅ August 26, 2009 ⋅

(SRI) - Today, August 26, the Almalinsky district court in Almaty will hold a hearing of 12 former employees of BTA Bank, charged with embezzling funds from the bank, Kazakh media reported.

Additional charges against former BTA chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov, whom the authorities suspect of being a leader of an organized criminal group, and former BTA head of corporate banking Veronica Efimova will be presented in a separate criminal case, the Kazakh daily Vremya reported quoting the pair’s lawyers.

As reported earlier, on March 21, Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office initiated a criminal case against Ablyazov and his deputy Zhaksylyk Zharimbetov in connection with their activities at the helm of BTA. During the investigation, additional 40 people have been implicated.

Ablyazov, along with Zharimbetov and ex-CEO Roman Solodchenko, reportedly fled Kazakhstan to the U.K., as the case against them began to unravel. Efimova is reportedly held in custody by Russian authorities in Moscow.