Kulibayev: Supreme Court Orders Confiscation of Land in Atyrau Belonging to Kipros Company

The Supreme Court has issued a final decision to seize a land plot in Atyrau owned by the company Kipros, citing long-term non-use of the site, Orda.kz reports.

The 0.3-hectare plot is located on the Ural River embankment within a recreational park area. The company has held ownership since 2014 but failed to begin construction, despite official instructions from authorities.

How The Case Unfolded

In 2022, the Atyrau prosecutor’s office conducted an unscheduled inspection and found the land unused. In 2023, Kipros — owned by businessman Timur Kulibayev — received a formal demand to begin development within a year. By 2024, no construction had started.

The Atyrau Regional Economic Court initially ruled in favor of confiscating the land. However, the appeals court overturned the decision, stating the company had taken “sufficient measures” by signing a contract and approving a project.

The Supreme Court disagreed. It ruled that Kipros only took action after the official demand was issued, while development should have started within the first three years of ownership, not after a decade.

The court issued a final verdict: the land is to be seized, and a state fee is to be collected from Kipros in favor of the state.

Other Property

This is not the first time businessman Timur Kulibayev has lost high-value assets in court:

In June 2024, he lost a land plot on KazNU’s territory, which he had previously received illegally.

50% of LPG Storage Park LLP was taken from him by court decision. He acquired the share in 2021 when the company was auctioned to Joint Technologies LLP. 

Following the January unrest, an investigation was launched, and the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition filed a lawsuit in early 2023. In July 2023, the Supreme Court returned a fuel depot asset to KTZ, which had been privatized at a reduced cost in the early 2000s.

Two years ago, a court ordered demolishing a guest house built by Kipros in the Bolshe-Almatinskoye forestry area. The site, part of the Ile-Alatau National Park, was intended for a tourist center but had instead been used for a luxury mansion.

The day before the ruling, Forbes published its 2025 World’s Billionaires ranking. Seven Kazakhstani businessmen made the list with a combined net worth of $38.8 billion. Timur and Dinara Kulibayev, among the country's wealthiest, were ranked at 673rd globally, each with a fortune of $5.3 billion — a drop from their previous position at 612th.

Original Author: Daniel Arturov