How Myrzakhmetov and Massimov Gave Kulibayev KTZ Fuel Bases

The Main Transport Prosecutor's Office in the courts had twice refused to satisfy a claim for the return of assets to the state. Orda.kz looked into the situation. 

Kazakhstan’s Government signed a decree on the phased transfer of social facilities to local executive bodies back in 1996. In October 2001, the then Minister of Transport and Communications, Karim Massimov, approved the list of "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy’s” facilities which were to be implemented. This includes material bases, fuel, coal warehouses, material and economic fuel warehouses and facilities designed to provide locomotives with fuel and lubricants.

On October 24, 2001, the General Director of KTZ signed the document "On the implementation of the objects of the Directorate logistics". There were 80 items on the list. Ablay Myrzakhmetov, who was conditionally imprisoned for 5 years for organizing the embezzling of 3.3 billion tenge in KTZ, coincidentally signed the order.

The assets were divided between the companies LLP "TEK Almaty", LLP "TEK-Astana" and LLP "TEK-Batys". All transactions were concluded on November 5, 2001. On November 27, Massimov and Myrzakhmetov were promoted. Massimov became Deputy Prime Minister, while Myrzakhmetov - Minister of Transport and Communications.

Attempt No. 1: How the KTZ asset became Timur and Alibek Kulibayev’s

In June 2002, the South-Eastern Regional Transport Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit to invalidate the purchase and sale agreement between KTZ and TEK Almaty LLP. However, the Almaty Specialized Interdistrict Economic Court rejected the claim. The Almaty City Court Board of Appeal upheld the decision of the first instance unchanged on August 7, 2002.

In 2010, the Southeastern Regional Transport Prosecutor's Office, the Western Regional Transport Prosecutor's Office and the Central Regional Transport Prosecutor's Office were reorganized. They became part of the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office.

This played a decisive role in the trials of 2023.

The assets of KTZ were transferred to TEK-Almaty LLP, TEK Astana and TEK Batys, but in 2008 they merged to become a single company – TEK-Kazakhstan LLP.

The company is currently a group of fuel and energy companies. It includes LLP "Trading House "Fuel and Energy complex-KAZAKHSTAN", LLP "Fuel and energy complex-KAZAKHSTAN" and LLP "Silk Way Petroleum". The company provides services for the discharge, storage and transhipment of diesel fuel. It also sells fuel and lubricants, including diesel fuel, gasoline, fuel oil, bitumen and coal.

The company owns 53 fuel depots located at railway stations. The total volume of the tank farm is 337 thousand cubic meters. More than 80 customers store fuel in the LLP’s depots. More than 80 thousand tons of coal are sold to the population annually.

KTZ’s press service told an Orda correspondent that refueling locomotives and other traction vehicles with diesel fuel and lubricants is an integral part of ensuring an uninterrupted transportation process.

"According to paragraph 6.1 of the article, the fuel and lubricants facility should be designed to supply fuel and various brands of lubricants to diesel locomotives, diesel trains, cranes and other petroleum product consumers. At the same time, the duration of each refueling is carried out without exceeding the maximum standards approved by the locomotive traction operator,"

How did TEK — KAZAKHSTAN Trading House LLP become Timur Kulibayev’s?

The company’s stakeholders (founders) are Kamkor Management LLP and Anuar Ushbayev. And now "Kamkor Management" belongs to:

• Joint Technologies, stakeholders (founders) Raushan Sagdieva and Timur Kulibayev via Kipros LLP
• Alibek Kulibayev, the nephew of Nursultan Nazarbayev's son–in–law. He became Deputy General Director for Marketing and Digitalization of Kamkor Management LLP on December 3, 2019.
• Dias Suleimenov, the co–owner and CEO of the diversified group "Kamkor Management". Co-founder of Brent Invest LLP, which owns a stake in the Sinooil gas station network.
• Andrey Kim, the first owner of the TEK – KAZAKHSTAN Trading House.

In other words, Timur Kulibayev and his nephew’s company has been responsible for refueling diesel fuel and lubricants for KTZ wagons for quite some time now.

In February, the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition (AZRC) completed an investigation in relation to "TRADING HOUSE "TEK KAZAKHSTAN" LLP. The company was suspected of abusing its dominant position. As it turned out, the LLP set monopolistically high prices for the services of "acceptance, storage and release of liquid, bulk and tarred cargo (diesel fuel)". The materials were transferred to Astana's Department of Economic Investigations.

First and Second Court Decision

In March 2023, the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development (MIID) to declare illegal the order of March 9, 2000 "On approval of the list of fixed assets of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" regarding supplementing the list with fuel depots.

The interested parties were representatives of "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy", JSC "National Welfare Fund"Samruk-Kazyna", LLP "Trading House "TEK Kazakhstan" and the Transport Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

On March 27, 2023, the Specialized Interdistrict Administrative Court of Astana sent the claim back. The Main Transport Prosecutor's Office, which included the South-Eastern Regional Transport Prosecutor's Office, was aware of the contested administrative acts at the time of the case on the transactions' invalidation. The time period between the adoption of the disputed orders and the filing of an administrative claim by the plaintiff goes beyond the time limits provided for by law.

Having been shot down in the court of first instance, the plaintiff filed a petition with the appeal court. KTZ's and Samruk-Kazyna's representatives supported the procedural appeal. They asked to turn over the Astana Specialized Interdistrict Administrative Court's decision. But the employees of LLP "Trading House "TEK Kazakhstan" asked, on the contrary, to reject it.

On May 18, 2023, the judicial board for Administrative Cases of the Astana Court dismissed the Transport Prosecutor's Office’s procedural appeal.

What else does Timur Kulibayev Own?

50% of the authorized capital has been returned via a court decision to ANZP’s ownership in Atyrau. LLP "Liquefied Petroleum Gas Storage Park" was handed over for privatization. The company was bought at auction by Joint Technologies LLP, owned by Timur Kulibayev and Raushan Sagdieva. 

The company acts as an operator for the supply of social gas produced at the Atyrau refinery. Liquefied petroleum gas is sold at regulated prices to wholesale and retail consumers in Atyrau and the Atyrau region.

During the investigation, an Orda correspondent learned that during the privatization of the "Liquefied Petroleum Gas Storage Park", one of the requirements was forgoing activities for the sale of liquefied petroleum gas by LPG Distribution LLP (owned by Talgat Boranbayev – Editor's Note) and a storage park in the same region for two years.

Nazarbayev's son-in-law owns part of the QazaqGas refueling station through Joint Technologies and Kipros LLP. It formerly belonged to KazMunayGas. The refueling stations were sold at auction for 60.5 billion tenge. 

On April 25, 2023, at a meeting of the Commission on the Demonopolization of the Economy, Alikhan Smailov instructed to look into the sale to private ownership of a "large oil and gas company" at a reduced cost. According to the director of the public fund Energy Monitor, this concerns the gas stations owned by Nursultan Nazarbayev’s son-in-law. 

Kulibayev also owns Avtogaz Trade LLP. The organization sells diesel fuel and gasoline under the GasEnergy brand. Other suppliers' gas filling complexes and gas monoblock units for gas filling complexes represent the network.

Original 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.