FBI to Review Complaint Filed by Kazakh Workers at Tengiz

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has accepted for review a complaint filed by former Kazakh employees of a major oilfield services company operating at Tengiz, Orda.kz reports. The complainants allege they were illegally dismissed and, having failed to achieve justice at home, are now seeking it abroad.

How It All Began

The dispute centers around the service company ESS – Eurasia Service Solutions LLP, formerly known as KazMunayGas-Service Compass and later Compass Kazakhstan.

When the British multinational Compass Group entered Kazakhstan, Tengizchevroil (TCO) had high expectations. The foreign contractor was expected to manage social infrastructure at Tengiz, train local specialists, and ensure a fair distribution of income. At its peak, the service company provided housing for 15,000 Tengiz workers and created about 4,500 jobs.

However, according to Murat Turysbekov, who once served as First Deputy General Director of KazMunayGas-Service Compass, the reality turned out very differently. He claims that the structures of Compass Group became a front for questionable activities carried out by certain top managers.

In his words, the company was used to illegally redistribute service contracts, dismiss Kazakh citizens, and replace them with foreign specialists receiving multimillion-tenge salaries.

The problems began in 2014, when Turkish citizen Caglar Çapa became the new general director of KazMunayGas-Service Compass. At the same time, he also held the post of Deputy Head of ESS, thereby simultaneously occupying both positions. According to the Labor Code in force at the time, Çapa was required to coordinate his appointment with KazMunayGas, but he never did so.

According to Murat Turysbekov, Çapa was appointed as manager for a specific purpose — ahead of a tender scheduled for October 2015, at which a contractor was to be selected to service Tengizchevroil for the next seven years. Former employees of the joint venture established at Tengiz have serious doubts that this tender was conducted impartially.

Ultimately, the service company operating at Tengiz came under the full control of Compass Group. Foreign specialists were appointed to all key managerial positions. In 2018, Turysbekov himself was dismissed — in his view, without any legal grounds. The former top manager claims that he was subjected to pressure and intimidation, forcing him to leave the country temporarily.

Alongside Turysbekov, several other former employees have also accused the British company of wrongful dismissals.

Adding intrigue to the case, Compass Group recently sold off all its Kazakh assets, despite its strong market position. As recently as 2023, Compass Kazakhstan ranked 12th among Kazakhstan’s oilfield service companies.

Yet by late 2024, it had announced the sale of all its subsidiaries — even though ESS LLP had just secured another seven-year servicing contract at Tengiz.

They quickly decided to sell the Kazakhstani assets — three contracts and two camps — for only $35 million, clearly below their market value, said Murat Turysbekov.

What Do the Petitioners Want?

Six activists representing the interests of dismissed Tengiz employees have filed a collective petition addressed to Chevron CEO Michael Wirth. The signatories claim that all the dismissals were illegal, as they were carried out by an unauthorized executive, Caglar Çapa. KazMunayGas has confirmed that Çapa had no legal authority to occupy the post of general director and therefore had no authority to make personnel decisions.

The petition names two U.S. citizens — Rudolph Mirren and Shrirang Kulkarni — as individuals possibly involved in the unlawful firings. The authors are urging Chevron and U.S. authorities, including the FBI, to investigate potential labor rights violations committed against Kazakh nationals.

They are also requesting that Chevron’s contract for the development of Tengiz not be renewed until it becomes clear under what circumstances the service company’s employees were dismissed from Kazakhstan’s largest oil field.

Against the backdrop of Chevron’s recent statements that it has no plans to leave Tengiz, intends to insist on a contract extension, and is already negotiating with Kazakh authorities, these appeals appear bold. They are unlikely to deter one of the world’s oil majors from continuing to earn substantial profits in Kazakhstan.

However, the allegations of illegal dismissals are serious—particularly given that some analysts have publicly advised the Kazakh government not to renew Chevron’s contract.

This contract is of strategic importance. For Kazakhstan, it not only attracts investment but also guarantees budget revenues, says Murat Turysbekov.

Why The FBI?

In Kazakhstan, no criminal case has been opened based on Turysbekov’s allegations. He repeatedly appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Agency for Financial Monitoring, and even to the President, but each time, the investigation stalled. He then decided to seek justice abroad.

Turysbekov said that the first thing he did was write to Baroness Margaret Hodge, a member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament, as well as to the International Corruption Prevention Agency and the Serious Fraud Office.

Now, former Compass Kazakhstan employees are asking U.S. authorities to investigate whether American citizens — representatives of Chevron and Tengizchevroil — were involved in the illegal dismissal of Kazakh workers. To this end, they have filed formal complaints with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the FBI, and even the UN Special Procedures Service.

All of these organizations have acknowledged receipt of the Kazakh complaints, and the documents are currently under review.

There is, however, no guarantee that foreign agencies will intervene. Nor have the complainants achieved much success in Kazakhstan itself. In 2022, members of parliament from the Aq Jol faction, led by Azat Peruashev, already demanded an investigation into how the Kazakh share of the joint venture operating at Tengiz ended up in foreign hands.

At the time, Majilis deputies suggested that the country might have lost at least 30–40 billion tenge due to the management’s actions. The ensuing investigation and audit culminated in a response from the Prosecutor General’s Office, which confirmed that in 2015, Caglar Çapa had illegally transferred the contract, thereby harming the interests of KazMunayGas.

The Orda.kz editorial team will continue to monitor developments in this story. 

Original Author: Nikita Drobny