A power struggle in energy-rich Kazakhstan took a dramatic turn at the weekend when Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has just made himself president for life, sacked his own son-in-law from two senior foreign posts. Earlier the Kazakh leader ordered an investigation into his son-in-law’s alleged involvement in the kidnapping of two bankers.

Rakhat Aliyev was both ambassador to Austria and leader of Kazakhstan’s campaign to chair the Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the human rights watchdog, in 2009. He said the kidnap allegations were fabricated after he confided to his father-in-law earlier this year that he planned to run for president in 2012.