MOSCOW, January 9 (RAPSI) - A court in France's Aix-en-Provence on Thursday ruled to extradite fugitive BTA Bank ex-CEO Mukhtar Ablyazov to Russia or Ukrauine, with the priority given to the Russian side, AFP reports.

BTA Bank issued a statement Thursday lauding the court's decision. 

Antonin Levy, a legal consultant for BTA Bank, said: "Today’s decision of the court confirms the validity of the Russian and Ukrainian extradition requests as well as that of the claims brought by BTA bank against Mr Ablyazov. The French judge considers the facts against Mr Ablyazov as sufficiently grave to justify his extradition. Whether Mr Ablyazov appeals this decision is irrelevant when considering the facts since such an appeal would only address procedural issues and would not impact in any way the merits of the extradition or that of the case against him for stealing billions from the bank," as quoted by the BTA statement.  

Ablyazov was detained on July 31 near Cannes, France. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine are all seeking the extradition of the fugitive banker. Kazakhstan and France do not have an extradition treaty and extradition to Russia may be hindered for procedural reasons, so Ukraine remains the choice destination.

Kazakhstan is seeking the extradition of Ablyazov, who fled to the UK after the Kazakh government acquired a stake in BTA in 2009 and the bank came under the control of its sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. Ablyazov was granted political asylum in Britain in 2011.