FEB. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh media reported that police in Astana had arrested the deputy minister for defence, General Baghdad Maykeyev, for taking a bribe. Investigators have focused on corruption in Kazakhstan’s defence procurement sector for the last few years. Corruption in Kazakhstan is considered endemic.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)
JAN. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Quoting a source at the Tashkent Prosecutor’s office, the AFP news agency said that in December police arrested two managers at the Coca-Cola joint venture in Uzbekistan for stealing millions of dollars. The story has not been confirmed by Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola owns 42.9% of the joint venture.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)
JAN. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, has stashed works of art belonging to the national museum in Tashkent at her home in Switzerland, an Uzbek activist who gained entry to the property said. Embroiled in a power struggle, Ms Karimova is currently in Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Georgia suspended the mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, while various investigations into alleged fraud were ongoing media reported. Mr Ugulava’s suspension damages the image of Tbilisi as a place for foreign companies to invest. He has denied any wrongdoing and said the charges were politically motivated.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
JAN. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Iran arrested Babak Zanjani, one of Tajikistan’s most prominent businessmen, for money laundering, media reported. Mr Zanjani, an associate of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, is a native Iranian but had invested millions into Tajikistan, raising concern that he was laundering cash through the country.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swiss authorities dropped a money laundering case against Timur Kulibayev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s son-in-law and a potential successor, and his close business associate Arvind Tiku without pressing charges, media reported. The Swiss authorities opened the case in 2010.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish telecoms company TeliaSonera sacked another top executive from its Eurasian division which has been linked to murky deals in both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
The allegations of dubious deals bring into focus the links between the Uzbek and Kazakh elites and Western companies’ desire to tap into markets.
Media reported that Veysel Aral, head of TeliaSonera’s Eurasia unit, was fired after only 10 months in the job.
He took over in February from Tero Kivisaari who had been head of the unit in 2007 when it made a $350m payment to a Gibraltar-registered company linked to Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, in return for a 3G licence.
Swedish media released details of that deal a couple of years ago triggering an internal investigation that has led to several high-level resignations and sackings at TeliaSonera.
Before Mr Aral took over from Mr Kivisaari as head of TeliaSonera’s Eurasia unit he had been in charge of KCell, TeliaSonera’s Kazakhstan subsidiary. Earlier this month a Swedish newspaper also raised questions over a $200m deal in 2012 by KCell to buy telecoms infrastructure from companies owned by Karim Massimov, head of Kazakhstan’s presidential administration.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Almaty raided the HQ of London-listed Kazakh paper-maker Kagazy and accused it of being involved in various illegal dealings including tax evasion, the company said. Kagazy is currently the focus of a legal dispute in a London court. The company said that raids in Almaty may be linked to the case.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Swedish newspaper accused telecoms company TeliaSonera of making unethical deals in Kazakhstan. TeliaSonera bought telephone networks from two companies with close connections to the head of the Kazakh presidential administration, Karim Massimov, in 2012 for about $200m, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor-General has accused Bergei Ryskaliyev, the former governor of the Atyrau region, of stealing 71b tenge ($460m).
But the charges against Mr Ryskaliyev don’t stop there. The latest allegation is that he illegally allocated land for the construction of mosques and that he had links to unspecified terrorist groups.
It been a fast fall from grace for the 46-year-old Mr Ryskaliyev. He was governor of the Atyrau region until August 2012 when he, officially at least, was moved aside because of ill health. Since then Mr Ryskaliyev has been on the run with his brother, dodging the Kazakh authorities.
It was also in August 2012 that his main ally, Aslan Musin lost his job as head of the Kazakh presidential staff, one of the most influential jobs in Kazakhstan.
In Kazakhstan’s rough and tumble world of politics and business, your so-called “krisha” or roof is one of your most important defences.
And if your krisha goes, you’re in trouble, analysts said. “The legal action against the Ryskalievs might be a power play towards the more prominent Musin,” said an Almaty-based analyst who wished to remain anonymous.
Also in August 2012, Mr Ryskaliev’s sister Gulzhanar was accused of a high-profile murder and the family assets in Switzerland were frozen upon allegations of money laundering.
The case of Mr Ryskaliev is important to foreign investors as it shows how closely aligned politics, corruption and crime is in Kazakhstan.
It’s not the only high-profile corruption against officials, though.
A court in Geneva froze the assets of former mayor of Almaty, Viktor Khrapunov, in November 2012 on suspicion of money laundering and in Astana, Anar Meshimbayeva, former chairwoman of the statistics agency, is facing charges of stealing 750 m tenge ($4.9m) in 2009.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)