AKIPRESS.COM - A Dutch court has lifted a freeze on Kazakh sovereign fund’s assets worth $22 billion, the Justice Ministry said on Wednesday.

The assets held by the fund’s custodian, Bank of New York Mellon, were frozen last October after a lawsuit by Moldovan businessman Anatolie Stati who seeks to enforce an arbitration ruling against the Astana government.

Moldovan businessman Anatolie Stati, his son Gabriel and their companies are investors in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry. They say they have been subjected to harassment from the state aimed at forcing them to sell their investments cheaply.

Kazakhstan denies the allegations, but Anatolie and Gabriel Stati and two of their companies – Ascom Group S.A. and Terra Raf Trans Traiding Ltd., have won an international arbitration award of around $500 million against the government. Kazakhstan has refused to pay, accusing Stati of using fraudulent means to secure a favorable arbitration ruling and filing lawsuits against him.