The Russian state-owned Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) is seeking compensation from businessman Timur Turlov, now a Kazakh citizen, over the transfer of assets out of Russia, according to the agency’s correspondent.
“The Arbitration Court of the Nizhny Novgorod Region on March 12, 2024, accepted for consideration the claims of the state corporation Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) to recover damages from several individuals involved in the withdrawal of assets from JSC CB Association. Among the defendants is the controlling shareholder, chairman, and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., Timur Turlov. According to Forbes Kazakhstan, he ranks among the top 10 richest businessmen in Kazakhstan and renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022,” the DIA statement said on Wednesday.
The basis for the claim is the actions of those involved, which were aimed at the withdrawal of the bank’s assets.
“A criminal case has been initiated over the theft of funds from the credit organization. The Bank of Russia revoked the license of JSC CB Association in 2019 due to the discovery of an unreported foreign currency balance on a nostro account at a foreign bank exceeding 3.8 billion rubles, which was more than twice the size of the bank’s own capital,” the DIA added.
It should be noted that earlier, a man resembling Freedom Holding Corp. president Askar Tashtitov appeared in a video with another man identified by the publishers as Olzhas Ashykbayev, who had been convicted in a $22 million criminal case. According to some reports, Ashykbayev earned this money by uncovering certain “bypass schemes” of FFIN Brokerage Services, but the funds were confiscated, and he was accused of fraud and imprisoned. Notably, the real Tashtitov confirmed in court that he had met with Ashykbayev, who testified that the head of Freedom Holding Corp. had offered him $200,000 in connection with the case. Later, KazTAG reported that two U.S. government agencies had launched an investigation into Kazakhstan’s Freedom Holding.
