Suspicions are raised that Erjan Tatishev, alleged to have been the victim of tragic accident, was murdered

Speculation is growing in Kazakstan that the hunting tragedy last weekend that killed a well-known banker was no accident. Officially, 37-year-old Erjan Tatishev, president of the TuranAlem bank, BTA, was killed on December 19 when a gun he was handing over to a colleague went off accidentally, as the jeep he was driving hit a bump. Tatishev, an experienced hunter, was with a group that included bodyguards and employees of a private security firm. However, not everyone is convinced by the police explanation for the death of the head of Kazakstan’s second-largest bank. “He handled guns like a professional,” said Tatishev’s former bodyguard, who spoke to IWPR on conditions of anonymity. “In the years I worked with him, I went hunting with him several times, and I never saw him handle guns carelessly. Even in the heat of the chase, he always kept a clear head, and always calculated every step and every shot.” There’s mounting speculation that Tatishev may have been killed by business or political rivals. Tatishev became president of BTA in 1997, one year after the Kazak government forced the merger of two insolvent banks. With assets of 4 billion US dollars, it has since become the sixth largest private bank in the Commonwealth of Independent States. In the 1990s, Tatishev headed the brokerage Sayat-Brok, and later became vice-president of one of the first holding companies in Kazakstan, Astana Holdings, founded by Mukhtar Ablyazov, a businessman who became trade minister and later joined the opposition. Tatishev had big plans for BTA. Just before his death, he unveiled an ambitious scheme to raise 1.5 billion dollars next year, in part by issuing 200 million dollars worth of Eurobonds in the first quarter of 2005 and by selling shares worth 350 million dollars. Much of this money was earmarked for new BTA branches in Azerbaijan and Armenia, for a bank purchase in Tatarstan and to open offices in St Petersburg and Saransk. All of which has led to suggestions that his death could be linked to business rivalry. At a press conference, the chairman of BTA’s board of directors, Serik Ualiev, referring to the Tatishev shooting, was reluctant to comment on anything apart from official version, but mentioned that “just like in any case there are rivals and competitors”.