A Humble Pensioner

On October 12 one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan, Jusan bank, made quite the announcement. The bank claimed that a number of articles had begun circulating the internet in Kazakhstan. The articles’ content concerns the connection between the former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and Jusan bank along with its British parent company, Jusan Technologies. 

Jusan bank laid these claims to rest with a “reassuring” statement that the facts in these articles are grossly distorted and that neither Mr Nazarbayev nor any of his family members have any relation to Jusan Bank, its subsidiaries and Jusan Technologies Limited.

X Marks The Spot

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) released an investigation that revealed the opaque structures that Nazarbayev does not “formally” own. He, however, is their founder. This gives him total control over the organizations. Legal experts confirmed this for OCCRP. 

Unfortunately, there is no “clear” connection between all these organizations, though there is a trail that leads one to another.

Education is The Passport to The Future.

According to the OCCRP investigation, Nazarbayev during his 30-year presidency founded The Foundation of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbasy (dissolved in 2021), The Nazarbayev Foundation, The Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation, Demeu (support) and Elbasy (Leader of the nation). 

The similarities in the names may be coincidental, but it does make them quite hard to differentiate and track.

The Nazarbayev Foundation and The Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation reportedly engage in educational, social, and "patriotic" projects. This coincides with the Nazarbayev Foundation’s charter. According to it, the fund’s purpose is educational. The Demeu and Elbasy foundations do not seem to have taken part in any activities meant for the public.

Connect The Dots

The Nazarbayev Foundation's charter states that the first chairman of its highest executive body, i.e. the Supreme Board of Trustees, is Nursultan Nazarbayev. The document also specifies that he has control over the Foundation, including the contents of the charter. 

The Nazarbayev Foundation has indeed financed the activities of a network of prestigious secondary schools (Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools) and a research university that dawns the first president’s surname. Both of these educational institutions receive top-notch state financing despite only hosting a small proportion of the nation’s students and existing endowments.

Contrary to standard international practices, the Nazarbayev Foundation is a private entity as opposed to belonging to the educational organizations it should fund. The university and schools have also set up their own personal development funds.

Such a need for financing from multiple sources seems odd. The fact that there’s next to nothing known about the foundations also raises red flags. None of them publish financial reports and some of their assets are hidden behind an intricate wall of commercial structures.

What’s This Got To Do With Me?

The Nazarbayev Foundation laid in a long investment slumber since its 2009 founding. After Qasym Jomart-Toqayev succeeded Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2019, the foundation came to life. 

The foundation reportedly purchased 75 per cent of Pioneer Capital. This fund had been previously established by the two corporate foundations owned by the Nazarbayev schools and university. Pioneer had also been used to acquire a Kazakhstani bank called ExpoCredit for $30 million along with Tsesnabank and many other entities. According to OCCRP, Pioneer’s assets amount to a whopping $7.8 billion. Pioneer later moved its entities and properties to the holding company, Jusan Technologies, located in the United Kingdom.

A year later in 2021 a peculiarly named company, QAZ42, acquired a 2-per cent stake in Jusan Technologies worth $200 million for $20 million. This in turn diversified the ownership. Opacity makes it virtually impossible to determine who owns QAZ42. 

According to another report by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), a financial centrepiece in Jusan Technologies just so happens to be one of the largest retail banks in Kazakhstan, First Heartland Jusan Bank. 

The deputy chairman of this bank is Erbol Orynbayev. He was a deputy prime minister and assistant to Nazarbayev until 2015 and a director of Jusan Technologies at one point. He also owned a 4.6% stake in this company.

Orynbayev currently holds the position of a member of the Board of Directors of Tsesnabank and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of First Heartland Jýsan Bank JSC.

Galymzhan Yessenov, an oligarch who married Akhmetzhan Yesimov’s daughter is also mentioned by TBIJ. Yesmiov just so happens to be Nazarbayev’s nephew. According to TBIJ, Mr Yessenov owns 20% of First Heartland Jusan Bank.

All Together Now

TBIJ  discovered that the owner of Jusan Technologies changed at the end of 2021. 

Now the holding is owned by the non-profit organization Jysan Holdings LCC, which received Jusan Technologies as “a charitable donation”. This was reported to journalists by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, representing the interests of the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation in London.

Jysan Holdings LCC itself, as the authors of the report write, belongs to the non-profit organization NU Generation Foundation. Aslan Sarinzhipov, the head of the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation, heads this organization. He was the Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan from 2013-2016.

Sarinzhipov has also reportedly claimed that Nazarbayev does not have the ability to withdraw money from the Nazarbayev Foundation. He, however, did not answer what exactly stops Nazarbayev from moving assets for personal benefit. 

Evans...David Evans

The appointment of the British lord, David Charles Evans, as a director of Jusan Technologies is also a cause for curiosity.

David has quite the repertoire: he was a "firm supporter" of the electoral campaign of Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London. He also chairs the Newsdesk communications company. Newsdesk specializes in image support of states, international organizations and multinational corporations. Among the clients of Newsdesk are the government of Kazakhstan. David also became the chief advisor to the CEO of Arcanum Global in 2014. 

Arcanum is a private intelligence and analytical company with its head office in Zurich, Switzerland. An American businessman of Bangladeshi origin, Ron Wahid, chairs the company. It provides services to sovereign governments and multinational corporations. The company's findings allow customers to make decisions based on accurate analytical data. In 2017 the financial times wrote about the company working in the interests of the government of Kazakhstan and Nursultan Nazarbayev. The target of their work just so happened to be Nazarbayev’s then-political rival, Mukhtar Ablyazov. 

If It’s Yours, Why Isn’t Your Name on It?

This situation is a jumble of oddly similar names and a game of who said what. No assertion can be made with 100% certainty, but the activities mentioned above are eyebrow-raisers.

This is particularly true in regards to the shady dealings being conducted to conceal them and who considers them as permissible, a statement that is not limited to just Kazakhstan. 

RE: Orda.kz’s publishing of an article about the activity of the lord and Arcanum was followed by a myriad of cyber attacks on their website and the delivery of a pig’s head to their office.