A spokesman for Moldovan businessman Anatolie Stati says that Stati will demand the sale of a $5.2 billion stake in the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan if Astana refuses to pay an arbitration award.
Stati, his son Gabriel, and two family-controlled companies have been involved in legal battles with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s government for several years.
The Statis, who invested in Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry, claim they were subjected to significant harassment from the state aimed at forcing them to sell their investments cheaply.
Kazakhstan denies the allegations.
Anatolie and Gabriel Stati, together with their companies Ascom Group and Terra Raf Trans Trading, have won an international arbitration award of about $500 million against the government.
But Astana has refused to pay.
In October, Kazakhstan filed a civil racketeering lawsuit in a federal U.S. court against the Statis and their two firms.