Mukhtar Ablyazov

His father, Qabyl Ablyazov, (born 1935), worked as an engineer and was a teacher at a technical school.

His mother, Rauza Tolebergnova, (born 1940), was a librarian.

As a kid, he loved reading books and playing chess.

Ablyazov was taught at a Russian-speaking school, the Lomonosov Regional School, in his hometown.

He also partly worked as a loader in a rural farm at night.

At the age of 17, Ablyazov wanted to become a theoretician and a professor.

He attended the Alma-Ata State University where he then later transferred to Moscow Engineering Physics Institute during his sophomore year.

Mukhtar Qabyluly Ablyazov (Мұхтар Қабылұлы Әблязов, Mūhtar Qabylūly Äbliazov; born 16 May 1963) is a Kazakh businessman and political activist who served as chairman of Bank Turan Alem (BTA Bank), and is a co-founder and a leader of the unregistered political party Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (QDT).

He was also the former head of the state-owned Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC) as well as briefly holding the position of Minister for Energy, Industry, and Trade under Balgimbayev's cabinet before resigning from and joining the opposition against President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

There, Ablyazov graduated in 1986 and earned a degree in theoretical physics.

After graduating, he worked as a junior researcher at the Kazakh National University.

In 1987, Ablyazov married Alma Shalabayeva.

In 1990, Ablyazov was enrolled in postgraduate studies in the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute.

For that reason, he was fired from his role as a junior researcher at the Kazakh National University.

Ablyazov started working during the fall of the Soviet Union and the start of Kazakhstan's Independence.

His first job was the buying and selling of computers and copying machines.

In 1991, Ablyazov registered his first company and named it "Madina," which is the name of his first daughter.

In 1992, Ablyazov started his business by supplying all the regions of Kazakhstan with products such as salt, sugar, flower, matches, tea, chocolate, medicine, photocopiers, fax machines and computers.

In order to run this business, Ablyazov established Astana Holding in Kazakhstan, a multi-sector private holding company, which established and consisted of: Astana-Sugar, Astana-Food, Aral-Salt, The Shymkent Pasta Factory, Astana-Medical Service, Astana-Motors, Astana-Interotel, Astana-Bank, Trade House Zhanna (furniture).

In 1997, Ablyazov was appointed as head of the state-owned Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company.

KEGOC was a company close to bankruptcy at the time of his appointment as its head.

In one year, he managed to make the state-owned company profitable.

By 1998, he had a net wealth of about $300 million, one of the richest people in Kazakhstan.

In 1998, Ablyazov was a leading member of consortium of Kazakh investors that acquired Bank Turan Alem in a privatization auction for $72 million.

He later paid back the loan.

The bank later came to be known as BTA Bank.

In November 2001, he, along with other former Kazakh government officials founded the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (QDT).

As result, Ablyazov was imprisoned in March 2002 over accusations of financial fraud and political abuse until being pardoned by Nazarbayev in 2003.

After being released from prison, he ceased his formal political activities with the opposition.

Ablyazov has been accused of embezzling $6 billion from BTA Bank while serving as chairman.

BTA Bank increased its loan book 1,100 percent between 2003 and 2007 and held a loans to deposits ratio of 3.6 to 1 in 2007.

Ablyazov served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of BTA Bank from 2005 to 2009.

In 2015, a French court in Lyon issued an extradition order.

However, in December 2016, France's highest administrative court, the Conseil d'Etat, canceled the extradition order, on the ground that Russia had a political motive in making the extradition request.

Ablyazov was subsequently released from the Fleury-Mérogis Prison and was believed to reside in Paris.

The UK High Court of Justice has twice issued arrest warrants on Ablyazov; most recently on 25 July 2019, and extended to 22 months a court-ordered detention originating in 2012 for a contempt of court judgement.

In September 2020, Ablyazov obtained the status of political refugee in France.

On December 9, 2022, CNDA finally deprived Ablyazov of political asylum in France.

In July 2023, Ablyazov posted on his Facebook that he was ordered to leave French territory within 30 days.

Ablyazov was born in the village of Vannovka in the South Kazakhstan Region, at the time when Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union.