Russian Woman Detained In Kazakh Fugitive Oligarch Case

Fugitive Kazakh banker Mukhtar Ablyazov

Russia's Interior Ministry says that Czech authorities have detained a Russian citizen for her alleged role in the embezzlement of $5 billion from Kazakhstan's BTA bank.

According to Russian Interior Ministry officials, Tatyana Paraskevich, was the bank's manager responsible for cash transactions.

Russian investigators are expected to travel to the Czech Republic to question Paraskevich.

BTA's former director Mukhtar Ablyazov, a leading opponent of the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, left Kazakhstan for London in 2009 after Kazakh authorities seized control of his bank.

British authorities, at the behest of Kazakh officials, began to investigate Ablyazov for the alleged embezzlement.

Last February a London court sentenced Ablyazov was to 22 months in jail for contempt, but Ablyazov fled Britain before he could be taken into custody.

His current whereabouts are unclear.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax