DUSHANBE, May 30, Asia-Plus – Rakhat Aliyev, who is married to Kazakh president’s influential eldest daughter, Darigha, is thinking over the possibility to seek political asylum in Austria, after Kazakh prosecutor-general’s office Monday issued warrant for his arrest.

The president’s son-in-law is being sought by Kazakh MoI for suspected kidnapping.  Aliyev is accused of abducting two senior officials of Nurbank in January – one of whom subsequently disappeared.  Nurbank, is a mid-sized Kazakh bank that Aliyev is said to control.

Rakhat Aliyev rejects the charges and blames, saying that the case is aimed at silencing his political ambition.  He maintains that the charge that he was involved in the kidnapping of two former officials of the Kazakhstan’s Nurbank are fabricated.  According to him, he several months ago told Nursultan Nazarbayev that he had taken the decision to stand for the presidency at the next elections in 2012.  Soon after this conversation the Nurbank robbery saga began, according to him.  

BBC says this family feud is about money and power rather than democratic values, but in Kazakhstan, politics is a family affair, and that is why the president''s relationship with his son-in-law could affect not only political stability, but also billions of dollars worth of Western investment.