( RIA Novosti ) - The Kazakh president's son-in-law, the Central Asian nation's former ambassador to Austria, has been put on an international wanted list, the Interior Ministry said Monday.
A criminal case has been opened against Rakhat Aliyev on abduction charges, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.
"Investigators believe that he was the leader of an organized crime group," a ministry spokesman said, adding that the group engaged in extortion and illegal acquisition of land and property.
He said Aliyev is presently in Vienna, while a special delegation, led by a deputy prosecutor general and a member of Interpol's Kazakhstan office, has left for Austria.
President Nazarbayev Saturday dismissed Aliyev as ambassador to Austria and Kazakhstan's special representative at the OSCE.
Rakhat Aliyev, 44, the husband of Nazarbayev's elder daughter, is a shareholder of Nurbank, one of the country's largest banks.
Aliyev is also co-owner, with his wife, of a number of media outlets in Kazakhstan, in particular the weekly Karavan, KTK TV company, and news agency Kazakhstan Today.
According to media reports, the case relates to the abduction of Alibmazhen Gilimov, former chairman of Nurbank's board of directors, and Zholdas Timraliyev, its former first deputy chairman.