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By: Emily Jackson, The Star.com, Staff Reporter,

Kazakh native Rustem Tursunbayev was arrested after Canada Border Services Agency officials learned there was an Interpol red notice issued by Kazakhstan accusing him of organized crime.

 

It seemed as though there were two people on trial at alleged embezzler and Kazakhstan native Rustem Tursunbayev’s detention review Friday.

One is a fugitive accused of stealing $20 million from Kazakhstan’s state-owned nuclear company Kazatomprom, misrepresenting himself to get into Canada and concealing his purchased St. Kitts and Nevis passport, argued the Canada Border Services Agency’s counsel Andrej Rustja.
The other is a political victim of a corrupt society whose only “crime” is being a wealthy businessman, countered defence lawyer Lorne Waldman.
Tursunbayev was arrested Feb. 10 after CBSA learned there was an Interpol red notice issued by Kazakhstan accusing him of organized crime. He was ordered to remain in custody at his Feb. 13 detention review because of “valid concerns” he might flee. He has since suffered heart problems.

The Immigration and Refugee Board must eventually decide whether Tursunbayev can remain in Canada, where he has lived as a permanent resident in a $3.6 million King City mansion with his wife and two children since 2009. For now, IRB adjudicator Susy Kim must rule if Tursunbayev can live freely before his admissibility hearing.
He should absolutely not, Rustja said.
When Tursunbayev traveled to Latvia in July 2011, he used his St. Kitts passport — which he purchased for $550,000 — to leave Vienna, but entered Canada with his Kazakh passport. Authorities confiscated his Kazakh passport when he was arrested, but Tursunbayev made no mention of his other travel documents, Rustja said.
“Who knows what else he is hiding,” Rustja said, adding no amount of money would ensure he wouldn’t run.
But defence lawyer Waldman quickly handed over Tursunbayev’s St. Kitts passport Friday. Waldman didn’t bring it up sooner because he forgot in the midst of Tursunbayev’s health problems, he said.
Rustja also alleged Tursunbayev misrepresented his wealth and job to enter Canada. He claimed $50,000 upon entry, transferred $4.3 million into a bank account 11 days later saying he was a manager of LP Gas, and has since accumulated $18 million, Rustja said.
But Tursunbayev was not a manager at LP Gas then — he hadn’t officially worked there since 2001, but was a consultant, Waldman said. He was the director of a charity that received funding from Kazatomprom and Canadian company Cameco.
Waldman argues Tursunbayev has done “absolutely nothing” to hide his assets and that his detention is illegal.
He fled Kazakhstan after Kazatomprom’s president was arrested as he feared he might be wrongly accused too, Waldman said. When the Kazakh government asked him to testify at the 2009 trial, he refused. Only then was a warrant issued for his arrest. The Interpol warrant is directly from the government of Kazakhstan, where “torture is rampant and corruption is prevalent,” Waldman said.
“The only real evidence … is that my client has a lot of money,” he said. Tursunbayev remains in detention while the hearing continues.

http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2012/03/02/alleged_embezzler_is_victim_of_kazakhstans_corrupt_regime_defence_says.html