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Within the Procedure of Reimbursement of the Stolen USD 6 bln BTA Bank Establishes Control Over a Large Pharmaceutical Plant

News date: 26 May 2017

Today the State Executive Service of Ukraine received a motion filed in the interests of BTA Bank (the Republic of Kazakhstan) on enforced reimbursement of the indebtedness in the amount of more than UAH 400 mln by Research and Development Center Max-Well.

Fraudulent schemes with the pharma plant were a part of unlawful transactions entered into by the former ex-owner, Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is accused of stealing the Bank’s money in the amount of more than USD 6 bln. According to the estimates of the investigation authorities the amount of the sum which was unlawfully withdrawn from the bank, and which was laundered through funding the construction and reconstruction of the mentioned pharma plant, constitutes UAH 2 bln.

On April 20, 2017 the Court of appeal in Kharkiv Region acknowledged validity in the territory of Ukraine of the decision upheld by the court in Kazakhstan about the nullity of the agreements on funding the construction of Max-Well plant in the town of Boryspil. Roman Marchenko, Senior Partner of Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm also shared the information that at the beginning of 2017 the National Police in Kyiv issued an additional notice of suspicion in relation to Mukhtar Ablyazov over the facts of unlawful withdrawal of monetary sums from the bank and their further laundering.

BTA Bank and its Ukrainian subsidiary, as represented by their new owner – Kazakh billionaire Kenes Rakishev, were recognized as victims of the actions committed by the criminal group organized by Mukhtar Ablyazov. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine filed a motion to the French Ministry of Justice on extradition of Mr Ablyazov to Ukraine for bringing him to criminal responsibility under the criminal episode involving Max-Well.

It must be reminded that earlier the English courts found Mr Ablyazov guilty of fraud, imposed an obligation on him to reimburse USD 4.3 bln to BTA Bank and sentenced the former oligarch to 22 months of imprisonment. Mukhtar Ablyazov, however, chose to avoid serving the mentioned prison sentence and ran away to France using the fake ID documents where he was arrested in summer 2013. Further to his arrest the banker was kept in prison for 3.5 years awaiting his extradition to Ukraine or Russia.