How The Ex-President's Family Violated The Land Code in Kaskelen

The younger brother of the ex-president owned the car market "Barys" in the Almaty region for quite some time. It is located near the Almaty-Bishkek highway in the city of Kaskelen. In April, the court overturned all land purchase and sale transactions, but the story did not end there. Orda.kz has looked into what Bolat Nazarbayev violated in order to get about 40 hectares of land

In our recent investigation, we wrote about a car market in the Almaty region. The ex-president's younger brother owned it. In a petition, Gulmir Duisebayev, Bolat's third wife, asked the Karasay District Court to recognize the plot under the market and the management company "Auto Market Karasay" LLP as jointly acquired property. The land area is 11.7301 hectares, and the company has contributed 25,354,389.39 KZT to the treasury since 2021. However, her request was shot down.

More on what she wanted to take from Bolat Nazarbayev can be read here and here.

On April 17, it became known that the Karasay District Court invalidated the contracts for the purchase and sale of land plots of the car market "Barys". On the same day, another court hearing was held in the same court on the same asset. That is, the decision of one court became the reason for the other one.

How One Trial Became a Reason for Another

According to the Karasay District Court, from 2004 to 2019, Bolat received four sites for the auto market. The land area amounted to 33.9316 hectares. They were combined and took on another 2.8 hectares. As a result, in 2019, the allotment area was 36.7316 hectares.

On February 26, 2022, the plot was divided again: one with an area of 21.2035 hectares, and the other - 15.5281 hectares. At the moment, only the cadastral number of the first plot is valid, the second, apparently, has been changed. However, there is an allotment of 11.7301 hectares in the neighbourhood to accommodate a multifunctional residential complex.

The prosecutor's office demanded to cancel all transactions. The plots were initially classified as agricultural land. The akimat and Bolat Nazarbayev, in turn, violated the procedure for changing their designation. As it turned out, the former akim of the Karasay district, Bolatbek Kutpanov, and the Karasay District's Department of Land Relations sold them to Bolat.

According to the court, five plots occupied an area of 36.7316 hectares. However, in total, they are 36.99 hectares for some reason. Bolat Nazarbayev's representative, lawyer Raisa Sedovam told an Orda correspondent that relying on the court decision when writing the material would be advisable. She refused to answer other questions, including those concerning her client's health.

Judge Assel Akhmetova pointed out that the lands at the time were classified as irrigated arable land.

The Karasay district's former akim, Bolatbek Kutpanov, giving 22 hectares, also directly indicated the reclassification of land from irrigated arable land to non-agricultural.

Car market "Barys": Court Ordered Prosecutor's Office to Take Measures, or Face a Fine

But it is not easy to reclassify the purpose of such lands. In the old version of the Land Code, agricultural land is subject to special protection.

It is allowed to use them for other purposes in exceptional cases:

• Creation and expansion of specially protected natural territories
• Implementation of international obligations
• Discovery of valuable mineral deposits
• Construction of roads, power lines, communication lines and main pipelines

After that, all the necessary materials are sent to the land administration for coordination with the agricultural and water management authorities. The central authorized body will then coordinate the decision with colleagues on agriculture and environmental protection. From there, the documents are sent to the regional executive body for a final decision.

Examination of the land cadastre cases showed the absence of materials for changing the classification. Bolat Nazarbayev received allotments without any coordination with the regional authority and the central authorized body for land management. The Karasay district akim's documents violated the law.

This is how a well-known businessman received a preferential right to purchase land plots as a landlord.

"The Court believes that the issuance of illegal acts by the akims of the Karasay district and the city of Kaskelen resulted in a violation of land legislation and the emergence of this dispute. In such circumstances, the court considers it necessary to send a private ruling to the prosecutor of the Almaty region to eliminate the legal infringement,"

the judge determined.

On April 17, the Karasay District Court demanded that prosecutors pay more attention to violations. They have been obliged to take measures against violators within a month. It is obligitory to inform about a decision. Otherwise, the prosecutor's office of the Almaty region will face an administrative fine.

Orda.kz will continue to monitor the situation.

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.