Kazakh bank BTA attempts to strike out Ablyazov appeal

 
LONDON - Kazakh bank BTA, which has launched a $5 billion fraud lawsuit againstits former chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov in England, is attemptingto strike out the fugitive oligarch's appeal against a prisonsentence.
 
In the latest twist in a two-and-a-half year court battlebetween one of Kazakhstan's richest men and his former bank, nowcontrolled indirectly by Kazakhstan's strongman president, BTA is hoping to accelerate its attempt to seize Ablyazov's assets.

"We hope the application will be heard soon, after which, ifwe get a favourable judgment, we could begin pursuing judgmentson the various claims" a London-based BTA spokesman said onThursday.
 
The bank accuses Ablyazov, who vanished after beingsentenced to 22 months in jail for contempt of court last month,of siphoning off billions of dollars before the bank was seizedby the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund in 1990, defaulted on $12 billion of debts and Ablyazov fled Kazakhstan for Britain.
 
Ablyazov, 48, who was granted political asylum in Britainlast year, has denied charges he says are an attempt by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazabayev to eliminate him as an opponentand confiscate his assets.
 
The case, one of a spate of disputes that billionaires from Russia and the former Soviet Republics are bringing in England,is testing the mettle of judges adjudicating in rows over assetsheld, and often hidden, outside their jurisdiction and indealing with individuals who flout their authority.
 
BTA says Ablyazov fled Britain last month on a coach boundinitially for France and High Court Judge Nigel Teare has notedthat even Ablyazov's legal team seem unaware of his whereabouts.
  
But Ablyazov had been expected to instruct his legal team toappeal against the contempt of court ruling for failing to fullydisclose his assets which include a mansion in one of London's premier "Billionaire Rows", The Bishops Avenue in north London.
 
Ablyazov's lawyers have argued that a prison sentence wouldhamper their client's ability to defend himself against the mainfraud charges, scheduled to kick off in November. Law firm Addleshaw Goddard was not immediately available for comment.
 
BTA said it had filed an application to the court to have Ablyazov's appeal struck out unless he turns himself in withinseven days, pays the costs of the order and BTA's costs anddiscloses all his dealings with his assets.
 
Two weeks ago, Judge Teare ordered Ablyazov to turn himselfin by March 9 or risk allowing BTA to strike out his defenceagainst fraud allegations and seek a default judgment on eightof the nine claims against him.
  
Asset recovery hopes have buoyed BTA's defaulted dollarbond.

(Reuters)