Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Former Kazakh PM sent to prison for corruption

DEC. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Karaganda sentenced former Kazakh PM Serik Akhmetov to 10 years in prison on corruption charges, completing the downfall of a former high-flying member of Kaza- khstan’s inner clique of elite.

Akhmetov was sentenced alongside other 20 senior officials, among them the former governor of the Karaganda region, Baurzhan Abishev, and former mayor of the
city, Meiram Smagulov.

They were all charged with abuse of office and embezzlement.

The trial effectively disbands the former group of Karaganda elite and acts as a warning for other local elites in Kazakhstan.

Akhmetov, 57, had served as PM from September 2012 to April 2014, when he was removed and replaced by his predecessor Karim Massimov.

He was then appointed defence minister, but was sacked in October 2014, just one month before prosecutors filed corruption charges against him.

Now, in his latest ignominy, he will going to jail for taking a $2.4m bribe.

Days before his sentence, Akhmetov publicly admitted his errors and asked President Nursultan

Nazarbayev for forgiveness.
“I sincerely apologise to Nursultan Abishevich for not repaying his trust and causing him distress,” said Akhmetov. The court displayed little clemency towards Akhmetov, instead pre- ferring to hand him a heavy sentence and use him as an example to others.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakh businessman buys controlling stake in BTA Bank Ukraine

DEC. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee gave permission to Kazakh businessman Kenes Rakishev to buy a majority stake in BTA Bank Ukraine, strengthening his control over Kazakhstan’s banking assets.

One day before disclosing Mr Rakishev as the mystery buyer, the Ukrainian regulator said it had given the green light to a citizen of Kazakhstan to buy the 50.007% stake in BTA Bank that Kazkommertsbank, Kazakhstan’s largest lender, didn’t already own.

Kazkommertsbank and Mr Rakishev completed the takeover of BTA Bank in Kazakhstan earlier in 2015.

This takeover deal, though, only concerned the Kazakhstan-based parent company. BTA Group also owns banks in Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Now, Mr Rakishev will control BTA’s subsidiary in Ukraine, buying it from Andryi Levkovsky, a Ukrainian businessman linked to several investment companies.

The 36-year-old Mr Rakishev is the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s powerful defence minister Imangali Tasmagambetov and is considered a member of the country’s most inner clique of elite.

BTA Bank Ukraine’s results in the first three quarters of the year were positive. Net income grew by 30% to $119,800, making the bank a small player in Ukrainian market. The bank’s total assets amount to 2.8b hryvnia ($120m).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakh President praises cuts

DEC. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna has cut some costs but still needs to do more to help Kazakhstan through the current economic downturn, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in an interview with local journalists. Mr Nazarbayev said the fund cut costs by 50b tenge ($145m) this year, but was continuing to buy subsidiaries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan and China deals

DEC. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a business forum in Beijing, Kazakh and Chinese officials said they reached agreements worth $10b that will increase cooperation between state-owned companies. One of the deals involved the sale of 51% of KMG International, a subsidiary of Kazmunaigas, to a Chinese energy company.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Oil field in Kazakhstan to expand in 2016

DEC. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tengizchevroil (TCO), the Chevron- led consortium operating the Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan, said it increased output in the first nine months of 2015 and that it intends to push ahead with its expansion project in the first half of next year. In January-September 2015, Tengizchevroil produced 20.3m tonnes of crude oil, up 2.5% compared to the same period last year when it produced 19.8m tonnes. The so-called Future Growth Project expansion project will cost around $38b to complete and will increase output by 44%. Earlier this year, TCO delayed its expansion plans because of the low price of oil.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

First Starbucks opens in Kazakhstan

DEC. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Dozens of people queued up outside the MEGA shopping mall in Almaty to buy a coffee from Kazakhstan’s first Starbucks cafe. MEGA had previously said two Starbucks shops would open in 2016.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan denies IS child camp allegation

DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh ambassador to Singapore, Yerlan Baudarbek-Kozhatayev, put out a statement denying reports in Malaysia’s media that the Islamic extremist group IS had established a training map for children in Kazakhstan. Malaysian media had been quoting Malaysia’s counter- terrorism chief.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Currencies: US dollar, Kazakh tenge

DEC. 16/18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In the weeks leading up to an interest rate increase by the US Federal Reserve Bank on Wednesday, Central Banks in the South Caucasus and Central Asia fretted about possible repercussion on their own currencies.

Janet Yellen, who chairs the Fed, said interest rates would go up by 25 basis points from 0.25% to 0.50%. The Fed had postponed the decision for months and a rate increase was widely expected.

What will happen now to Emerging Markets? The US dollar will inevitably become more attractive to investors, which are likely to pull capital away from Emerging Markets back to the US.

The day after the rate increase, the value of the dollar grew by 1% against six major currencies. This, in turn, could further depress the price of commodities and pressure currencies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Shortly after the Fed’s decision, the Georgian Central Bank also raised its interest rates to 8%, up from a level of 7.5%. And the following morning the Central Bank of Azerbaijan issued a statement saying it expects the new rate to affect the currency markets in the region.

Kazakhstan had been on holiday while all this was happening, celebrating the 24th anniversary of its independence, but the impact on the Central Bank and the tenge have been tangible for weeks. The Central Bank twice skipped its monthly policy meetings in November and December, leaving analysts puzzled. On Friday, when Kazakhstan woke up from its festivities, the tenge hit an all-time low of 342.5/$1.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan’s navy tests missile

DEC. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s navy has test fired for the first time an anti-aircraft missile from one of its warships in the Caspian Sea, eurasianet.org reported. Caspian Sea littoral states have been increasing their naval presence and armaments in the Caspian Sea over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan sells off Batumi terminal

DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The oil terminal at the port of Batumi, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, will be among the companies that Kazakhstan sells off to investors during a privatisation round in 2016 and 2017. In 2008, KazTransOil, a subsidiary of state-owned Kazmunaigas, bought the Batumi oil terminal. Kazakhstan needs to sell off state-owned assets to raise cash.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)