The erstwhile flagship of Kazakhstan's banking sector, BTA Bank, is wrapping up a turbulent year: embattled by the credit crunch, dogged by allegations of massive fraud, nationalized under duress and forced to default on its debts. The bank is now at the center of an acrimonious legal battle in London while simultaneously negotiating with creditors to restructure debts.
The information disseminated by some media outlets that the investigation team probing into the case of Kazatomprom ex president Mukhtar Djakishev has been allegedly placed under house arrest, is not true, the Kazakh National Security Committee press secretary Kenzhebulat Beknazarov said.
Temirbank, Kazakhstan's tenth largest bank, has defaulted on its debt and became the fourth Kazakh lender to seek restructuring this year, the bank said in a statement on Monday.
Uzbekistan has closed its border with Central Asian neighbor Kazakhstan to all but citizens of each nation returning home, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said today, as swine flu spreads in both countries.
Kazakhstan approved on Thursday a bill introducing tougher punishment for invasion of privacy in a move condemned by the opposition as an attack on press freedom.
