Kazakh millionaire Rakhat Aliyev’s assets were frozen, a police inspector told a court as two former bodyguards, who allege they were tortured on his orders, demand his prosecution in Malta.

Pyotr Afanasenko and Satzhan Ibraev, ex-bodyguards of Kazakh Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhe-geldin, claimed Mr Aliyev – who was now using his wife’s surname of Shoraz – was responsible for their illegal detention and torture under the administration of his father-in-law, dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev.

They say he personally had them arrested and tortured in a bid to extract a false statement against their former boss.

They have been unsuccessfully pursuing Mr Aliyev for years in Austria and in Malta.

He has left the island and his whereabouts are unknown.

The first attempt to get the Police Commissioner to investigate Mr Aliyev failed when Magistrate Antonio Mizzi, who has since become a judge, ruled the police did not have the power to initiate such criminal proceedings because the Attorney General’s consent was required.

Police Inspector Ray Aquilina testified yesterday that Mr Aliyev’s assets were frozen and a search was carried out in all his properties in Malta. Officers also went to his house in Madliena where his mother-in-law and wife’s grandmother lived.

There were indications of attempts for the properties to be leased or sold but these were frozen by court order, the officer said.

He pointed out that the police had no record that Mr Aliyev had left the island, adding that he was considered an EU national and, therefore, could travel freely.

Neither were there any indications that he had used a private jet to depart, Mr Aquilina said.

He said it was a Russian journalist, Alexander Narodetsky, known to be a close friend of Mr Aliyev, who told them that he had left the country. The case continues.

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