Aliyev subject of interest to German federal intelligence (MaltaToday 1/27/13)

By Matthew Vella

The former Kazakh diplomat and multi-millionaire Rakhat Aliyev is the subject of interest by the German federal intelligence service, a parliamentary question by the German greens in the Bundestag has revealed.

Aliyev, who is married to an Austrian citizen, lives in self-imposed exile in Malta under EU freedom of movement laws, after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia by a Kazakh court for the murder of two bankers.

The former ambassador to Vienna, and once son-in-law to Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, is also accused of the torture of two bodyguards to allegedly force a confession that their employer, the former Kazakh prime minister Akezhan Kazhageldin, was planning  coup d’etat.

Kazhageldin has asked the Maltese courts to force the police to investigate complaints he filed against Aliyev for crimes against humanity, but the Attorney General says the country has no jurisdiction over Aliyev.

News that Aliyev is also the subject of interest of Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst emerged in parliamentary questions made to German Chancellor Angela Merkel by the German green MP Viola von Cramon.

No concrete information was supplied about Aliyev, because the information is confidential under state intelligence laws. Von Cramon was however granted access to view the documents on condition of confidentiality.

The intelligence service falls directly under Merkel’s remit.

In her answer, Merkel said the information on Aliyev had been part of a “successful” operation from the federal intelligence service and publication of this information would be deleterious to its source. However, the classified information could be viewed confidentially by the MP, at a non-disclosed location inside the German parliament.

Aliyev is also being investigated by the Austrian public prosecutor in Vienna, on the alleged murder of the two bankers, for which Aliyev has already been sentenced by a Kazakh court. Austria has refused to extradite Aliyev to Kazakhstan where he is feared he would not get a fair trial.

In Malta, Aliyev was revealed to have benefited from tax exile rules under the permanent residency scheme when he purchased an apartment at Tigné’s Fort Cambridge, before falling out with Maltese lawyer Pio Valletta, a registered director of the Fort Cambridge developers.

In his claim against Valletta, Aliyev and his wife Elnara Shorazova claimed Valletta was demanding a €1.5 million payment, partly for or assistance to procure residence status for Aliyev “due to difficulties related to his political past”.

Valletta assisted in wiring €2.4 million for Aliyev’s wife from an Austrian company to an account held by his Maltese company A & P Power, and into another company registered in the Caribbean. The details of Aliyev’s Maltese companies have already been forwarded to the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit.

 

Link:
MaltaToday.com.mt