В Атырау
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Kazakhstan will let a dissident oligarch's wife return to Italy as long as she is returned for trial if necessary, an Italian newspaper reported on Tuesday, the latest twist in a case that has strained relations in Italy's fragile coalition.
Alma Shalabayeva was expelled on May 31 along with her six-year-old daughter after police, under pressure from the Kazakh embassy, sought to arrest and deport her husband, who they did not find. The Italian government later revoked its expulsion order saying it had been abnormal.
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta severely criticised senior officials for succumbing to pressure from the Kazakh ambassador, and one was forced to resign.
The case threatened to bring down Letta's coalition last week when opposition parties brought a no-confidence vote against Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. He survived.
The Kazakh government said she would have to make an official request to it to return to Italy, and then she could be granted permission with "guarantees from Rome" that "in the future she will be present before a court of criminal prosecution in Kazakhstan should it be necessary".
Since her return to Kazakhstan, Shalabayeva has been put under criminal investigation for her involvement in bribes paid to immigration officials to obtain false passports, including for herself and her daughter, according to Corriere della Sera.
While she is required not to leave Almaty, she can move freely within the city and communicate with whoever she likes. She also is subject to legal treatment "in line with international norms", the Kazakh government said.
The incident has strained relations between the two countries, which have significant economic ties, especially in the energy sector. Italian oil giant Eni has pumped billions of dollars into large Kazakh oil and gas projects.
Shalabayeva was taken into custody by Italian police on May 29 when they raided a villa on the outskirts of Rome looking for her husband, and she was put on a private plane to Kazakhstan with her daughter two days later in an extraordinarily fast expulsion by the standards of Italy's snail-like bureaucracy.
Ablyazov, who fled Kazakhstan after his bank BTA was declared insolvent and nationalised in 2009, has accused the Kazakh government of arranging the "kidnapping" of his family.
The bank has brought fraud charges against him and his allies, accusing them of embezzling $6 billion. Ablyazov fled Britain last year after missing a contempt of court hearing at which he was due to be jailed for 22 months.