France to extradite banker accused of stealing billions

A French court has ordered the extradition of a Kazakh banker turned dissident who is accused of siphoning off billions of dollars before fleeing his homeland.

The court in Aix-en-Provence agreed today to extradition requests from Russia and Ukraine, which had branches of Mukhtar Ablyazov’s BTA Bank. Mr Ablyazov’s lawyers said they would appeal immediately.