Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has said that Kazakh opposition figure Mukhtar Ablyazov allegedly asked him for help in organizing a revolution in Kazakhstan, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to 24kg, Japarov, in an interview with Super.kg, denied Ablyazov's claim that he had asked him for money during the October 2020 events. Japarov said he had not personally known the Kazakh opposition figure before October 2020. According to Japarov, the phone call took place thanks to his former associate Melis Aspekov, who was near him at the time.
"One day he came up to me and handed me a phone. He said Mukhtar Ablyazov was asking to talk. I took the receiver, suspecting nothing," Japarov said.
According to Japarov, Ablyazov allegedly first praised the Kyrgyz people for the October events and then "suggested organizing a revolution in Kazakhstan from Bishkek."
"You Kyrgyz are great, you have carried out three revolutions, while we Kazakhs can do nothing. So I very much ask you to help us. If you allow it, I will fly to Bishkek, stay there and organize a revolution in Kazakhstan," Japarov said.
According to the Kyrgyz president, he flatly refused to support the initiative.
"First, I do not interfere in the politics of neighboring countries. Second, I am not going to ruin relations with Kazakhstan because of you. Better not come, mind your own business," he quoted his own response as saying.
He stressed that the entire conversation lasted about two minutes. He called Ablyazov's claim that he had asked for money a lie.
"If he says such things, then he is a real swindler. I did not ask him for any money," Japarov said.
The Kyrgyz president added that in October 2020 he had no need to turn to Ablyazov for financial support.
As reported, criminal cases have been opened against Ablyazov in Kazakhstan and a number of other countries. In December 2020, Ablyazov was sentenced in absentia in Russia to 15 years in prison in the BTA Bank case. The Russian court found that over three years — from 2006 to 2009 — Ablyazov and his subordinates embezzled 58 billion rubles from the bank, equivalent to 330.3 billion tenge.
In Kazakhstan, the banker was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in a penal colony — in 2017 he was found guilty of embezzlement. In May 2023, it was reported that France's court of cassation overturned an appellate court ruling to end proceedings against Ablyazov in a case of breach of trust and money laundering.
In August, a US court found that Ablyazov stole money from BTA Bank and laundered it in the United States. In December, it ordered him to reimburse the bank's legal costs.
It was also reported that BTA Bank and the city of Almaty won in a US court. Accomplices of Ablyazov and Viktor Khrapunov were ordered to pay $32 million.