Kazakh president's son-in-law denies kidnapping allegations

Rakhat Aliyev called the accusations, made Monday by the wives of Nurbank's former chairman, Abilmazhen Gilimov, and his deputy, Zholdas Timraliyev, "slander which looks like a carefully planned provocation," according to Kazakhstan Today news agency.

On Tuesday, financial police said Gilimov and Timraliyev were under investigation on suspicion of fraud, including the illegal transfer of US$6.5 million (?5 million) last month.

The wives said their husbands had quit Nurbank after Aliyev allegedly held the men captive for 24 hours from Jan. 18 as a way to force them to help him take over an office building in the commercial capital Almaty.

The two women alleged the investigation was an attempt to cover up any wrongdoing by Aliyev, who is married to President Nursultan Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, and is also the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic's deputy foreign minister.

Almaty financial police chief Vladimir Kurbatov said Tuesday that Armangul Kapasheva and Nazira Bazarbayeva's allegations were "an attempt to politicize the case and influence the investigation."

Aliyev, previously the country's tax police chief and deputy security chief, has substantial business interests. His son Nurali Aliyev was on Jan. 15 elected a board member of Nurbank — the country's seventh largest.

Dariga Nazarbayeva controls the Central Asian nation's biggest media holding, holds a seat in parliament and is a co-chairwoman of her father's Nur-Otan party. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/