A US executive went on trial in Kazakhstan on Friday charged with stealing money from a local company he used to manage, a case that some observers say raises concerns for foreign investors in the Central Asian country.
Menachem Seidenfeld, 38, has been charged with the theft of 3.4 million tenge (about $27,000) while buying equipment for telecommunications company Arna. The sum has been reduced from an initial figure of $40,000. Seidenfeld pleaded not guilty on Friday.
He was arrested in December 2005 in Russia, where he worked as mergers and acquisitions director for Golden Telecom and extradited to Kazakhstan last year. He has said in media interviews he believes the case was brought in retaliation for his insistence on selling a large stake in Arna through an open auction. Competitive bidding made the company's current owner pay more for the shares than he was willing to, Seidenfeld has said. American companies are the largest investors in oil-rich Kazakhstan's booming economy.
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