REPORTS ON ALLEGED ARMENIAN CAPITAL IN KAZAKH BANK DISMISSED

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Aug 30 2005

Baku, August 29, AssA-Irada

The National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA) has dismissed recent media
reports suggesting that Armenian capital is involved in the shares
of Kazakhstan’s major bank TuranAlem, which is planning to open a
representation in Azerbaijan. The NBA said that it has not registered
the Kazakh bank and TuranAlem simply applied over opening an office
in Baku. Unlike affiliates and subsidiary banks, representations
do not carry out banking transactions and simply represent banks.
TuranAlem has submitted all the information on its structure and
shareholders. Its capital is not owned by Mobilex Energy Ltd or any
other shareholder of Armenian affiliation, the same source said. Among
the bank’s shareholders are such influential financial institutions
as EBRD and International Finance Corporation (IFC), it said. The NBA
also indicated that just like all financial institutions, a part of
TuranAlem shares are sold and purchased in local and foreign stock
markets and 12% of its shares are invested in US. According to the
reports currently available, there is no Armenian capital among
the shares sold in the markets. TuranAlem has purchased a share in
the charter capital of Mezhinvestbank, a commercial bank operating
in Armenia. Another shareholder of the bank is Mobilex Energy Ltd
headed by an ethnically-Armenian person. The company has no bearing
on TuranAlem bank’s shares and its management, the NBA source said.*