Kazakh bank BTA to sell fugitive ex-chairman's luxury UK homes

By Kirstin Ridley

LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - Creditors in a Kazakh bank arepoised to see the first proceeds from a four-year court battleagainst its former chairman, a fugitive oligarch accused ofembezzling $6.0 billion.

Lender BTA said on Tuesday the English High Courthad given it permission to sell three of Mukhtar Ablyazov'sluxury UK properties, including a nine-bedroomed mansion innorth London's "billionaire's row" and a 100-hectare (40-acre)country estate.

The bank's creditors include RBS, Barclays and Standard Chartered.

"This order is another important step forward in the bank'seffort to recover the billions of dollars in assets which MrAblyazov misappropriated while chairman," said BTA ManagingDirector Pavel Prosyankin, who is overseeing asset recovery.

"We can now move to liquidate these assets. The bank willcontinue to leverage the English High Court judgements to pursueassets across the globe."

BTA has brought a series of fraud charges against Ablyazovand his allies since the bank was nationalised and declaredinsolvent in 2009.

The bank, which is controlled by Kazakhstan's powerfulsovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, accuses Ablyazov of usingfraudulent loans and shell companies to line his and hislieutenants' pockets.

Ablyazov, a theoretical physics graduate and former Kazakhgovernment minister, denies allegations he says are designed torob him and eliminate him as an opponent to Kazakh PresidentNursultan Nazarbayev.

His lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

Ablyazov fled the oil-rich state after BTA was seized anddeclared insolvent, saying his life was in danger. He wasgranted political asylum in Britain in 2011.

But he has been debarred from defending himself in the UKsince failing to show up for a contempt of court hearing lastyear, at which he was due to be jailed for 22 months. BTA'slawyers said he was believed to have fled the UK on a coachbound initially for France.

Ablyazov's former London home, Carlton House, has a 50ftballroom, mosaic swimming pool and car lift, and has been valuedby estate agents at about 17 million pounds ($26 million).

Oaklands Park - a vast estate in southeast England he alsoowned that once belonged to U.S. computer billionaire MichaelDell - comes with carp and trout lakes, polo facilities, anarboretum and a large indoor pool.

These are among hundreds of assets held under a worldwidecourt freezing order.

The bank's efforts to start liquidating assets it saysbelong to Ablyazov are complicated because many are controlledvia a chain of companies using trusted nominees and holdingcompanies often registered in offshore jurisdictions.