Since 2012, the KK&P team have advised English court-appointed interim receivers on the tracing and recovery of assets which were unlawfully dissipated by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the former chairman of the board of directors of JSC BTA Bank (Kazakhstan).
in 30 countries held the stolen assets
was returned to the receivers in 2015 as a result of KK&P’s efforts
We spent 3 years working on 30 litigation proceedings in Russian courts of all levels

“We have worked with Maxim Kulkov, Oleg Kolotilov and Nikolay Pokryshkin for a number of years on a complex set of cases in Russian courts. Their advice is always measured, considered and business-oriented, the merits and risks of every course of action having been carefully calculated. The team’s work is both results-driven and as efficient as possible for the client.”
KPMG (one of the receivers in the Ablyazov case)

In 2009, auditors revealed a shortfall in excess of US$10 billion in JSC BTA Bank’s (Kazakhstan) balance sheets for the 2005 to 2009 period when Mukhtar Ablyazov was chairman of the bank’s board of directors. BTA Bank began an international court action against Mr Ablyazov and his accomplices, charging them with fraud (JSC BTA Bank v. Mukhtar Ablyazov and others). The High Court of England and Wales issued an order freezing all Mr Ablyazov’s assets, the estimated value of which was US$6 billion.

Maxim Kulkov’s team advised the receivers and was responsible for coordinating the tracing, protection and recovery of Mr Ablyazov’s Russian assets.

We developed a strategy to trace and recover the assets, represented the receivers in court proceedings and coordinated the work of, and the cooperation between, lawyers from the United Kingdom, Cyprus, the Seychelles, Belize, Panama and Ukraine. Our main areas of work on the project were:

  • searching for and analysing information that would link dozens of companies and individuals who dissipated the Russian assets;
  • court challenges to the encumbrancing of assets and returning them to corporate control;
  • organising and monitoring the valuation of the assets to be recovered;
  • obtaining interim relief in order to protect discovered assets and prevent their devaluation;
  • implementing enforcement procedures to attach the assets;
  • recognising the rights of the receivers to the assets and to participate in the court proceedings.

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    From 2012 to 2015, we participated in over 30 court cases in Russian commercial courts of every level in several regions.

    In 2015, we won five cases for the recovery of assets, the market value of which was RUB 10 billion (two shareholdings in Hotel Cosmos), 100% of the interests in two companies owning land plots in Moscow, and 100% of the shares in the company owning a development project at Paveletsky Square.

    We are currently involved in 10 court cases.