Kazakhstan: U.S. Businessman Pleads Not Guilty In 'Kazakhgate' Case

James Giffen, the defendant in a corruption case associated with top Kazakh officials pleaded not guilty yesterday to multiple charges of fraud and bribery in a U.S. federal court. The indictment alleges that Giffen, a U.S. citizen and a former consultant to the Kazakh government, funneled over $78 million from oil-concession fees to secret bank accounts in Switzerland belonging to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, his family, and other officials. During the pretrial hearings on 3 June, Giffen's attorneys argued before U.S. Federal Judge William Pauley that the case against Giffen, now popularly known as "Kazakhgate," should be dismissed. The defense argued that actions that took place in Kazakhstan should not be questioned in another nation's courts. They also said it is not the role of courts to decide cases that may affect their nation's foreign policy. Rinat Akhmetshin is the director of the International Institute for Economic and Political Research in Washington, D.C. He tells RFE/RL the Kazakh government has long pushed for such a defense, warning the case would complicate U.S.-Kazakh relations: "The Kazakh government made a very serious effort to stop this investigation. The lawyers who were retained by the government of Kazakhstan appealed to the [U.S.] Justice Department, asking the department to stop the investigation and trying to cite international importance of this case. They asked for committee considerations. But it didn't work out, because obviously it's not a decision for the White House or certain Senate commissions to stop or to initiate anything [with regard to judicial proceedings]."