ASTANA, March 10 (Reuters) - Kazakh financial police said on Wednesday they were conducting a preliminary investigation into allegations of corruption against President Nursultan Nazarbayev's powerful son-in-law.
Timur Kulibayev, married to Nazarbayev's second daughter Dinara, is tipped as a potential successor to the Central Asian nation's 69-year-old leader who has been in power for 20 years.
Mukhtar Ablyazov, an exiled Kazakh banker, has accused Kulibayev of pocketing revenues from the sale of state energy assets. Kulibayev has rejected Ablyazov allegations as libel.
Murat Zhumanbai, a financial police spokesman, said investigators were looking into allegations related to a 2003 deal between Kazakh state company KazMunaiGas and the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).
"Checks into that are under way," Zhumanbai told reporters.
He said the police were due to complete their preliminary investigation by April 2. After that, they would decide whether to launch a criminal investigation.
Kulibayev's spokesman, Gaziz Kulakhmetov, declined to elaborate on the case. "We will wait for April 2," he said.
Kulibayev, 43, is one of the most influential figures in the former Soviet republic. Analysts say the case highlights an intensifying power struggle within the Kazakh elite as different groups compete for influence over Nazarbayev.
Ablyazov, who made his allegations from exile in Europe, is himself wanted in Kazakhstan on fraud charges he denies.
Nazarbayev, a former communist party boss who has been in power since 1989, has not publicly picked a possible successor to his rule, unlike some other post-Soviet leaders.
This uncertainty is a worry for investors concerned about the continuity of their deals in the oil-rich Caspian nation.
Nazarbayev tolerates little dissent in Kazakhstan and public criticism of his rule is taboo in Central Asia's biggest economy lying on some of the world's biggest oil and metals reserves.
Nazarbayev's current term expires in 2012. He can run for an indefinite number of terms under the Kazakh constitution.
"The war has just begun," said political analyst Dosym Satpayev. "Tensions within the elite may further convince (foreign investors) that after Nazarbayev Kazakhstan will become a risky place for their businesses." (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Maria Golovnina and Robin Pomeroy)
