‘Fraud’ tycoon Mukhtar Ablyazov owes £500,000 a day interest on unpaid claims

 
Dodged jail: Mukhtar Ablyazov
Paul Cheston12 August 2014
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The world’s richest runaway fraudster is racking up interest charges of £500,000 a day as he continues to flout High Court orders.

Mukhtar Ablyazov is in a French cell awaiting extradition after fleeing Britain under the threat of jail for failing to pay more than $4 billion (£2.5 billion).

He had arrived in the UK following the $18 billion (£11 billion) collapse of BTA bank in Kazakhstan, which he had run. The bank pursued him, and courts in London found that he was a fraudster, forger, liar and perjurer.

Now the High Court has taken the rare step of telling Ablyazov’s lawyers to hand over thousands of legal documents. It is believed to be only the third time in Britain that disclosure of litigation papers, normally sacrosanct under client privilege, has been ordered.

Mr Justice Popplewell said he was ordering disclosure because Ablyazov had “been bent on a strategy of concealment and deceit in relation to his assets”. The process will cost Ablyazov another £2.5 million. Court documents show he already owes daily interest of $800,000 (about £500,000).

Ablyazov, 51, came to Britain in 2009, claimed asylum and lived in The Bishops Avenue, Hampstead. BTA issued 11 claims against him in the High Court. In a series of default judgments, the bank won the right to claw back his assets, including £150 million of property in Britain.

He went on the run for more than a year to dodge a 22-month sentence imposed by a British judge for contempt of court for non-disclosure of assets and non-payment. Last August he was arrested by French police on the Côte d’Azur. He is due to be extradited to Ukraine or Russia on fraud charges.

Ablyazov, a former trade minister in Kazakhstan, denies the allegations and claims they are politically motivated. He says he was targeted for opposing Kazakh President Nursultan Nazar-bayev, and his family say his life would be in danger if he were sent back.

The new High Court judgment was made against Ablyazov and his brother-in-law Syrym Shalabayev, who was also sentenced to jail in his absence for contempt. The documents are held by Clyde & Co, Stephenson Harwood LLP, and Addleshaw Goddard. The lawyers warned a disclosure of this scale would involve millions of documents and more than 500,000 emails.

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