May 2011

31 May

Events and opinions

2700

BTA Bank's Bad Loans May Top Original Estimate, Adviser Says

BTA Bank, Kazakhstan's biggest lender before its nationalization and default two years ago, may have underestimated its bad-loan total and may require more government aid or risks being broken up. ... read more..

30 May

Events and opinions

2721

Kazakh opposition calls for halt to China expansion

ALMATY, May 28 (Reuters) - Opposition activists in Kazakhstan called on the government on Saturday to stop Chinese investment in the country's natural resources, saying Beijing could be preparing a la... read more..

Jailed Kazakh Human Rights Activist Released On Furlough

30 May

Events and opinions

2594

Jailed Kazakh Human Rights Activist Released On Furlough

OSKEMEN, Kazakhstan -- Kazakhstan's most prominent human rights activist, who is serving a four-year prison term over a fatal road accident, has been released from a low security labor camp on furloug... read more..

30 May

Events and opinions

2910

Kazakh feud ripples widely; Family dispute draws in U.S. Congress members and an array of lobbyists

Four years ago, Kazakhstan's foreign minister summoned the U.S. ambassador to a meeting in Astana, the Kazakh capital, to warn that a family dispute between the president and his son-in-law, two of th... read more..

Court orders arrest in £2bn Kazakh bank fraud case

28 May

Events and opinions

3755

Court orders arrest in £2bn Kazakh bank fraud case

Mukhtar Ablyazov is accused of running one of the biggest frauds in history A legal battle between one of Kazakhstan's biggest banks and its former chairman has intensified after the High Court ord... read more..

26 May

Events and opinions

2704

BTA Posted $52 Million Loss in First Four Months, Regulator Says

BTA Bank, Kazakhstan's biggest lender before the global credit crisis, had a loss in the first four months of the year, the nation's financial regulator said. BTA posted a loss of 7.6 billion tenge... read more..

26 May

Events and opinions

2709

Two killed as car explodes in Kazakh capital

An explosion killed two occupants of a car near the Kazakh security service's remand center in the capital Astana on Tuesday, shattering the windows of nearby houses, the Interior Ministry said. Th... read more..

25 May

Events and opinions

2846

Ein Sumpf in der Steppe

Bestechung gehört in Kasachstan zum Alltag. Trotzdem zieht das Land in Zentralasien immer mehr Firmen aus Österreich an. Die Grenzen zwischen beschenken und bestechen sind dort fließend. Astana. In... read more..

25 May

Events and opinions

5577

Borat is out of competition

Life is complicated, yet fun. Only recently I had an opportunity to tell a story about an erupted in our outskirts a Deputy from the Russian LDPR-party, Ashot Egiazaryane, who escaped from Moscow beca... read more..

23 May

Corruption!

4143

Kazakhmys accused on tyrant links by anti-corruption watchdog

Kazakhmys has come under fire from an anti-corruption watchdog over fears that it is controlled by Kazakhstan's totalitarian ruler. According to the mining firm, chairman Vladimir Kim owns nearly 2... read more..

BTA Bank Can Continue $4 Billion Ablyazov Case, Judge Rules

16 May

Events and opinions

3473

BTA Bank Can Continue $4 Billion Ablyazov Case, Judge Rules

BTA Bank, the bailed-out Kazakh lender seeking to recover assets for international creditors, can continue its $4 billion fraud lawsuit against ousted Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov, a U.K. judge ruled. ... read more..

12 May

Events and opinions

2814

New credit cycle begins in Kazakhstan

The economic recovery in Kazakhstan, driven by strong commodities prices, helped pull the country's troubled banking sector out of the crisis. And lending, which starting to resume in late 2010, is ex... read more..

Kazakh billionaire buys $600m Moscow Ritz ahead of Glencore windfall

12 May

Events and opinions

3027

Kazakh billionaire buys $600m Moscow Ritz ahead of Glencore windfall

Verny Capital, the Kazakh private equity firm whose lead investor is billionaire Bulat Utemuratov, has bought Moscow's Ritz-Carlton Hotel, ahead of a $3.2bn payout from the Glencore IPO. "The Ritz-... read more..

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