A Story of Hate: Who is The Possible Organizer of The Attacks on The Media Associated with?

Orda's website has been subjected to DDOS attacks on a regular basis since mid-July 2022. Various types of threats were received by the editor-in-chief, the editorial director and the journalists of the site. The Elmedia and Ulysmedia websites and their management were also attacked. The attackers also set fire to the cars Vadim Boreyko’s camera operator. Orda journalist, Alexander Smolin, spoke with the neighbours of the hacker’s family, Oleksiy Tokarev. And Maria Gorbokonenko found out what the alleged organizer, Arkady Klebanov, and his mother own.

Arkady Klebanov (Manevich) is the son of Marina Klebanova and Sergey Manevich. The latter was one of the assistants of Dariga Nazarbayeva's ex–husband, Rakhat Aliyev.

According to the detainee, he organized all the attacks because of personal motives and old grudges against well-known media. He chose the goals and options of provocations independently. He hired a group of hackers and other people to execute these “requests”. Profits from cryptocurrency were the method of payment.

On Saturday, March 4, Orda's Editor-in-Chief, Gulnara Bazhkenova, was present at a face-to-face questioning with the alleged instigators. Arkady Klebanov said that he owns two IT companies that brought him regular income. But it was not possible to find these companies. Either he deliberately lied or mispronounced their names

During the face-to-face questioning, he also said that he had not been in touch with his mother, Marina Klebanova, and his affluent relative, the owner of the CAPEC holding, Alexander Klebanov. He was either lying or stretching the truth. As the investigation department found out, Arkady Klebanov was engaged in the construction of a certain structure in the Yeremensai micro-district of Almaty.

The plot on Palgova Street has belonged to his mother since December 22, 2020. There was even a trial about the site in the Specialized Inter-district Court for Administrative Offenses of Almaty at the end of 2022. How was it possible that the mother and son were not communicating if he was building on her land?

Having bought a plot of 48 acres, Marina Klebanova immediately decided to build a residential building on it. She submitted an architectural and planning task for design to the "Department of Urban Planning and Urbanism of Almaty" on February 26, 2021.

At about the same time, digging of a pit began on the site. A local resident, Madina Kusainova, (Name and surname changed – Ed.),contacted the editorial office Orda.kz after having realized the detained Arkady Klebanov was her neighbour. She didn't know his surname but remembered Arkady's name as well as the fact that he stuttered during their conversation. Madina Kusainova suspects that Klebanov was engaged in mining at the site.

"I saw him on the news and recognized him from his photo. In 2021, we bought plots at the same time and began to develop them, as this is a mountainous area, there is a slope. He started digging up his plot, and I started digging up mine. That's when we met. He stuttered a lot, was extremely polite, even emphatically polite. To develop his site, he bought all the equipment. That's when I found out that he was a developer of EGOV.KZ. I already erected (my - Ed.) building, but he still wasn't building. It seemed strange to me, usually everyone tries to finish this quickly. He raised a very high fence and built a hangar. That's when we started noticing problems with electricity. The lights in the neighborhood were turned off due to daily over-voltage. Suspicions even then appeared that someone was mining in the area. My husband and I began to suspect him: a man bought a huge plot, built a hangar, but did nothing there. Why do we think it's him? When bitcoin fell, and it became unprofitable to mine, the problems with electricity disappeared. He started selling the plot on a website. And recently a billboard appeared on the fence,"

the local resident said.

According to Madina Kusainova, there have always been a lot of cars with Russian license plates on Arkady Klebanov's plot. The woman remembered that she saw either a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley with the number of the beast — 666.

"If you come around street and show his photo around, then every neighbour will remember him. Arkady was extremely polite while he was digging the pit. But we still have houses on top, they asked him, aren’t you afraid that the ground will slide along with the houses? He replied that he had all the permissions. But we all know how we issue them. Now the question is about safety. He said he would do everything. From that moment on, everything remained that way. He put up a high fence so that what was on the plot would not be visible. And he just reacted harshly to any claims of neighbours and that's it,"

Madina Kusainova added.

300 Million Tenge for a Site with a Hangar

A plot of 48 acres on Palgova Street is now up for sale. In a telephone conversation with an Orda journalist, a realtor said that the owner estimated the land above Al-Farabi Avenue at 300 million KZT. The hangar will be a gift to the new owner. The realtor also spoke about the availability of gas, water, sewerage and electricity connections. According to the land cadastre, the plot in the Bostandyk district is 30 acres. It is not known where the other 18 acres have gone.

Despite the fact that Arkady Klebanov was in charge of the plot, it belonged to his mother. She was the one who had to answer in the Specialized Inter-district Court for Administrative Offenses of Almaty. Marina Klebanova was suspected of violating part 3 of Article 462 "On Administrative Offenses" of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

On October 6, 2022, the owner of the land received an order to eliminate violations in the field of architectural, urban planning and construction activities. Prior to November 4, 2022, she did not develop a working draft of the retaining wall. "Construction in seismic zones, she did not hold an examination, did not conclude contracts of copyright and technical supervision, did not notify the authorized body about the start of construction and installation work, did not receive a technical inspection of the reliability and stability of buildings and structures."

On December 20, 2022, Marina Klebanova's representative admitted her guilt in court. She had to pay a fine of 15,315 KZT within a month for the violations.

What Does Marina Klebanova Own?

The mother of the alleged organizer of the attacks on journalists has three companies in Almaty:

• VITAS COMPANY PRODUCTION COOPERATIVE is a dental and gynecological clinic on Al-Farabi Avenue.
• OMEGA-COSMETICS LLP – lease (sublease) and operation of leased real estate.
• SIRIUS GROUP LLP – retail trade in non-specialized stores in the Orbita-2 micro-district, building 6.

The first company belongs to obstetrician-gynaecologist, Irina Manasova, and dentist by education, Marina Klebanova. She also holds the position of director of VITAS. The company has contributed 4.3 million KZT to the state treasury since 2018.

Back in March 2010, the organization was allowed to provide medical care in the speciality of obstetrics and gynaecology. The license application was issued on April 30, 2013. The document is still valid.

Marina Klebanova is not only the director of Omega Cosmetics LLP but also the founder of the company. Last year was the most profitable for the company, judging by tax deductions. The LLP paid 2,060,021.6 KZT in taxes.

In mid-February 2021, Omega Cosmetics LLP approved a project for the formation of land plots in the micro-district Orbit, building 6. In May 2021, the company issued a similar license at the same address. However, there is another Klebanova organization here – SIRIUS GROUP LLP. The company belongs to Marina Klebanova and her business partner, Tatiana Barysheva. The latter, presumably, is a relative of a member of the Republica party and the chairman of the Accounting.kz, Maxim Baryshev.

According to 2gis' data, there is a pharmacy called "Novaya" in the micro-district Orbit, building 6. It is managed by SIRIUS GROUP LLP. Investigation Department Orda.kz confirmed this fact with the help of licenses obtained by the company.

In December 2022, SIRIUS GROUP applied for a license for pharmaceutical activities with a subtype activity in the retail sale of medicines. The LLP has paid 44.3 million KZT in taxes in four years. This is Marina Klebanova’s most profitable company.

Aside from the plot in the Yeremensay micro-district, the suspect's mother has land in ST Remizovka. She bought it in September 2021. According to our findings, not far from Marina Klebanova's house is the home of her richer relative, Alexander Klebanov. Marina planned to build a garden house on the plot. She received an Architectural and planning task for this on December 13, 2021.

The land is 55 acres in the neighborhood, according to Krisha.kz, is up for sale for 316 million KZT.

The Hackers’ Hot Trail

Orda correspondent, Alexander Smolin, visited Oleksiy Tokarev's place of residence in the residential complex "Aigerim". The hacker for hire reportedly lived there with a young woman and a child.

As expected, there was no one there. However, we managed to talk to the neighbours.

A neighbour said that two weeks ago, policemen and people in plain clothes broke into Tokarev's apartment. What exactly was going on, she does not know. 

Representatives of a foreign consulate eventually arrived. They were trying to negotiate something. The Embassy of Ukraine recommended making a request in response to the Orda journalist's questions

According to local residents, the young man, girl, and child were living in the apartment. But since the arrest, no one has visited the residential area. It is not known where the mother and the child are.

According to a neighbour, a local police officer was present during the detention. A police representative, who introduced himself as Maksat, refused to comment on the incident in a telephone conversation and recommended contacting the press service of the police department.

An Orda journalist also visited Vitas Dentistry at 65 Al-Farabi Avenue. Marina Klebanova offered to go to her personal office to talk, but after learning about the topic of the conversation, she had a change of heart.

"I refuse to comment, you know where the door is, I ask you to leave,"

Klebanova told the journalist and wished them luck.

Orignal Author: Maria Gorbokonenko

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. Please refer to the original article in Russian for accuracy.