Aliyev claims Kazakh regime ‘infiltrated Maltese courts’

Over the past three years, the once-feared deputy chief of the Kazakh secret service and former Ambassador to Austria, Rakhat Aliyev, tried to evade prosecution for a double-murder, by setting up base in Malta.

Today, Aliyev is sitting in an Austrian jail as the authorities consider whether he is really responsible for the murder of two bankers whose bodies were found in 40-gallon oil drums.

But in the meantime, he has accused the Maltese government of collaborating with the Kazakh dictatorship – namely, his former father-in-law – that has persecuted him ever since Nursultan Nazarbayev forcibly divorced Aliyev from daughter Dariga in 2008.

In June this year, through his lawyer Joe Giglio, Aliyev, 52, filed a constitutional application calling on the Court to declare that an asset freeze carried out at the request of the Kazakh government was against his right to a fair trial, and to lift the embargo on his wealth.

The freezing order also affected the wealth of his Austrian-naturalised wife Elnara Shorazova, prohibiting the couple from transferring any movable or immovable property.

Having styled himself as a “progressive political dissident”, in his constitutional claim Aliyev suggests that the Kazakh dictatorship has wormed its way into the Attorney General’s office and that the Maltese courts have been “infiltrated by the Kazakh regime” – or that Malta was, by acting on a request of the dictatorship, by proxy denuding him of his fundamental human rights.

“[Aliyev] has never been notified of any procedures against him, or of any pending accusations initiated by the dictatorial regime of Kazakhstan,” the writ continues.

In its reply, the Attorney General’s office says it has acted on a request for assistance by the Kazakh justice authorities under the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, and that Malta was bound to collect such evidence as requested and hand it to the Kazakh government – as it did last April.

The AG also said that the frozen capital was still accruing interest, and that Aliyev’s legal guarantees – though he has been absent from the island since July – were safeguarded under Maltese law.

The AG refuted allegations that it was acting on ulterior motives. “The Attorney General is acting in accordance with the law and in respect of Malta’s international obligations…

“Had this been an extradition request, it would have been incumbent on the domestic courts to see that [Aliyev] is not sent to a state where his fundamental rights are not guaranteed,” the AG said in its reply. “The mutual assistance procedures took place in full guarantee of his right to a fair hearing.”

Under the freezing order, various companies belonging to Aliyev and registered at his Pendergardens address were frozen. Another company whose assets have been frozen are Olympic Yachting Limited – possibly used as the owner of his personal yacht – whose shareholder is Ganado Trustees & Fiduciaries. Other companies mentioned in the freezing order are AJ Trust, Sydney Trust, and Athina Trust of Malta; and Acquarius Trust Company Limited and Aurelius Holdings Limited of Gibraltar; and EDS Holdings Ltd and Crimson Limited.

Aliyev, who as major-general was the former deputy director of the Kazakh National Security Committee, was sentenced twice in absentia to 20-year prison terms for corruption, kidnapping, organized criminal activity and abuse of office in Kazakhstan. But the Austrian authorities decided against extraditing Aliyev to Kazakhstan.

In 2008 they reopened the case, arresting Aliyev and then releasing him on a €1 million bail. Since arriving in Malta in 2010, he was questioned on the double murder in a Maltese court, by an Austrian prosecutor.

He availed himself of the right to move freely across the EU through his marriage to a naturalised Austrian citizen, Elnara Shorazova, and lived in Malta under the assumed surname of Shoraz.

But in April 2013, he had his Austrian aliens passport repealed, following an inquiry by an Austrian ombudsman that found maladministration in the issuance of his passport by the ministry of the interior. He applied for a Cypriot passport in August 2013.

In May, Aliyev turned himself voluntarily to Vienna police after his associates were arrested in the country.