Kazakhstan’s former president linked to $7.8bn in assets in UK company

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Kazakhstan’s former president of 30 years has been linked to $7.8bn of assets via a UK company, it has been revealed.

The extent of the wealth under the control of Nursultan Nazarbayev’s personal foundation emerged in a joint investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Kazakhstani online publication Vlast, and Kyrgyzstani media organisation Kloop.

“This investigation really joined the dots on what was already suspected about the wealth that could be under Nazarbayev’s control, but the $8bn figure is likely just scratching the surface,” said Ben Godwin, head of analysis at PRISM Political Risk Management, which advises investors in Kazakhstan and the wider region.

“Kazakhstani society still considers the Nazarbayev family to be ever-present behind the scenes, despite the fact he stepped down as president two years ago – and that’s what the wave of protests earlier this month was about. They were against Nazarbayev directly.”

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Nazarbayev ruled Soviet Kazakhstan, and then independent Kazakhstan, between 1989 and 2019, when he stepped down as president. This paved the way for current leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who claimed following the violence that shook the country this month that ‘financial-industrial groups’ under Nazarbayev had benefited disproportionately during the first president’s rule.

During his 30-year reign, Nazarbayev, his family and connected businessmen are believed to have profited enormously from the country’s vast reserves of oil, gas and metals. A recent report by Chatham House suggested that Nazarbayev family members own property worth at least £330m in the UK.

These fresh revelations of assets linked to the Nazarbayev Foundation control came as British MPs criticised the UK’s role in protecting Kazakhstani elite wealth.

An opaque network

The trail that links Nazarbayev to the assets is somewhat opaque. It begins with a group of schools and a university, both of which are controlled by Nazarbayev’s charitable foundations.

The schools and university in turn own two corporate foundations.

In 2019, the year Nazarbayev stepped down as president, those corporate foundations set up an investment fund called Pioneer Capital Invest, according to the investigation by OCCRP, Vlast and Kloop.

One of the personal foundations controlled by Nazarbayev, the Nazarbayev Foundation, then took a 75% stake in Pioneer Capital Invest. In July 2021, this stake decreased to 62%.

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