Adjacent to Power: Investigating the Ownership of Land in Astana

Orda.kz has previously reported on how the Astana city Akimat allocated an island in the Ishim River to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. A residence was later constructed on the site, with portions of the land subsequently transferred to his son, brother, and their children.

Recently, it has come to light that an adjacent, similarly developed plot is also linked to the former President's family.

The neighboring territory — approximately 17 hectares — is located around 100 meters from the island. It is accessible by a private road leading to a high fence and a secured checkpoint, inaccessible to regular visitors in private vehicles. While the embankment remains public, foot traffic is minimal and the area is monitored.

Right along the embankment, there’s a small guard booth with a special forces officer inside. Not far from it, parked directly on the pedestrian walkway, is a police car with two more officers. As we passed by, all of them watched us closely. It’s clear that pedestrians aren’t a common sight around here.

The site is enclosed by high fencing equipped with surveillance cameras and signal jammers. Tree stumps visible behind the fence suggest that the area was previously forested.

Yandex.Maps reveals two large structures on the property — measuring approximately 2,300 and 1,600 square meters — though it is unclear if they are currently occupied. A parking lot at a secondary entrance suggests the area is actively used, likely by staff working on the premises.

A helipad is also visible on satellite imagery. The property is located along E-460 Street, a road that does not appear on 2GIS maps but is accessible via Yandex. The road runs toward the presidential center via Bokeikhan Street.

On March 2, 2022, the Astana Land Commission leased this plot of land for 49 years to the private foundation "Elbasy Fund."

However, according to the public cadastral map, the land plot is owned by another legal entity: Kapital Invest 2021 LLP.

Kapital Invest 2021 is also part of the structure of funds and companies of the ex-Elbasy. 

Why the former president needs so many properties clustered so closely together—and why the residence of a private citizen, even a retired one, is guarded not by private security but by the police (and thus funded by taxpayers)—remains unclear. As for the latter, we've submitted an official inquiry to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Now we wait for a response.

Neighbours 

The neighboring properties are largely owned by private individuals, so there’s no public information available about them. However, a few are registered to corporate entities.

One building near the island's entrance in the direction of Telmana village is owned by Kamet Investment LLP, a company based in Almaty that specializes in real estate rental and management. Despite having existed for nearly four years, the firm has only paid 6 million tenge in taxes. Interestingly, the house itself has been there much longer than the company has existed, suggesting it has changed hands more than once.

The registered founder of Kamet Investment LLP is “Kamet Investment & Holding PTE. LTD,” a Singaporean entity listed in that country’s business register.

The Singapore firm presents itself as a family office focused on private investments across Asia. It operates under a wealth management model known as a multi-single-family office, offering tailored solutions for high-net-worth clients. However, it's unclear whether this Singapore-based firm has any direct connection to the one operating in Kazakhstan.

Swiss-Affiliated Neighbor

Across from the Nazarbayev-linked plot sits a property owned by the Kazakhstan branch of Swiss construction firm B&A Contractors SA. Headquartered in Lugano, the firm is part of the Mabetex Group, an international engineering and construction company. Habibe Bunjaku heads the local branch.

B&A Contractors SA previously built the National Scientific Oncology Center in Astana for 129 billion tenge.

During its operations in Kazakhstan, the company paid only 31,000 tenge in taxes. It has also been involved in 15 court cases, mostly related to disputes over government procurement.

What’s interesting is that B&A Contractors SA is listed as the founder of Diamond Residence of Nur-Sultan LLP, which in 2017 received an 8.7 billion tenge loan from QazExpoCongress to construct the Diamond multifunctional administrative and residential complex in Astana. Notably, the president of B&A Contractors SA, Afrim Pacolli, is also a co-founder of Mabetex Group.

Its website features images of Pacolli with former President Nazarbayev, ex-Prime Minister Askar Mamin, and other officials.

Across the road, Mabetex Group is currently building the Saranda VIP town.

"Respublika" has previously written about the financial connections between Nazarbayev and Pacolli.

In March 2010, "Respublika" claimed the offshore company of Ilyas Khrapunov (the son of the fugitive ex-akim of Almaty Viktor Khrapunov), which was in the orbit of Dinara and Timur Kulibayev's interests, was the owner of the villa "Romantika" and the plot of land under it. 

"Romantica" is a luxurious 19th-century mansion in the administrative center of the Italian-speaking province of Ticino in Lugano. The Kulibayevs bought it for 8.5 million Swiss francs. 

Upon transferring the mortgage documents for the villa to a legal entity, mentioning the new true owners of the villa in the land registry was omitted. The former owner was Behgjet Pacolli, who, reportedly, organized this deal for the Kulibayevs family.

In 2013, Khrapunov and the Kulibayevs tore down the historic building and planned to build a new luxury hotel in its place.

However, the project encountered difficulties with permits and local regulations, delaying its implementation.

Today, the former Villa Romantika is home to the Swiss Diamond Boutique Hotel La Romantica, a modern luxury hotel overlooking Lake Lugano. 

This caused local backlash, not just because of the building’s status, but also because the family of a powerful foreign politician owned it. However, Swiss authorities did not formally oppose the demolition, as long as it complied with construction and environmental regulations.

These facts became known after the famous data leak, known as “Kazakhgate.”

In 2009, Dinara Kulibayeva purchased property in Asnières, near Geneva, for 74.7 million francs. 

Swiss prosecutors investigated these purchases in 2010 on suspicion of money laundering. However, the investigation was closed in 2013 as the Kazakh authorities did not cooperate with their Swiss counterparts.

Original Author: Ilya Astakhov