A highly confidential court order to freeze the assets of Rakhat Aliyev was in the hands of Kazakhstan’s secret service barely a day after it was issued, according to documents presented to police by his lawyer.

Criminal lawyer Joe Giglio presented leaked e-mail correspondence to the police from a lawyer representing the Kazakh government and the chief investigator of the country’s secret service, E. Ajmbetov, in which the seizure order was attached as a PDF document.

The e-mails were sent on June 7 by these individuals to judicial authorities in Liechtenstein to encourage a money laundering investigation against Mr Aliyev when the court order was issued only a day earlier and was meant to be kept under wraps.

An attachment order, as it is known technically, is an investigative action issued by the courts giving the police access to assets and bank accounts of money laundering suspects.

Publishing information about such an order is specifically prohibited by the Money Laundering Act, which provides for a fine of up to €12,000 and 12 months’ imprisonment for any breaches.

Yet, despite the sensitivity of this document, it ended up in the hands of the Kazakh security service, which has faced repeated reports of masterminding the assassination, kidnap and torture of Opposition figures throughout the world. The order of seizure has since been lifted and Mr Aliyev rejects the allegations of money laundering but beyond his guilt or innocence in this case, his allegation raise the spectre of a serious national security breach.

How is it possible for secret service officers to have the attachment order the next day?

An investigation was opened locally and the police even questioned Malta Today editor Matthew Vella because the newspaper had published the order on June 9.

However, Mr Vella told the police he received the document anonymously and was unaware it was an attachment order.

Moreover, the document had already been published by several Kazakh news agencies two days earlier. Mr Aliyev feels that the incident indicates infiltration by his country’s intelligence agency.

“How is it possible for Kazakh secret service officers to have the attachment order the next day?” he asked.

“It’s very dangerous for Maltese society, for the Government.

“It happened in Austria (where he faced documented assassination attempts) – it’s happening in Malta.”