ASTANA -- Baurzhan Ibraev, the vice president of the Kazakh state uranium company Kazatomprom, has been arrested, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
Ibraev's arrest on May 25 comes after company President Mukhtar Dzhakishev and his deputies -- Dmitry Parfenov, Askar Kasabekov, and Malkhaz Tsotsoria -- were arrested last week and charged with theft.
Dzhakishev is known to be a close business partner of banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, who fled the country after the authorities took over his bank and launched an investigation against him earlier this year.
Of the seven top managers at Kazatomprom, only two are not in jail, including former National Security Committee chief Nartai Dutbaev.
Kazakh opposition leaders say the arrests are politically motivated and are the latest wave of lawlessness and repression in the country.
Ibraev's arrest on May 25 comes after company President Mukhtar Dzhakishev and his deputies -- Dmitry Parfenov, Askar Kasabekov, and Malkhaz Tsotsoria -- were arrested last week and charged with theft.
Dzhakishev is known to be a close business partner of banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, who fled the country after the authorities took over his bank and launched an investigation against him earlier this year.
Of the seven top managers at Kazatomprom, only two are not in jail, including former National Security Committee chief Nartai Dutbaev.
Kazakh opposition leaders say the arrests are politically motivated and are the latest wave of lawlessness and repression in the country.
