Names of Everyone Once Close to Power: How Much Have Nazarbayev Era Oligarchs Returned?

Orda.kz has investigated the asset recovery system.

Who's Managing Asset Recovery?

Two organizations are responsible for asset recovery.

The first is the Asset Recovery Committee of Kazakhstan's General Prosecutor's Office.

44-year-old Senior Justice Advisor Nurdaulet Suindikov heads it.

He has served in the Prosecutor's Office since 2000, and before joining the Asset Recovery Committee, he worked as the Head of International Legal Cooperation Service at the General Prosecutor's Office.

According to Orda's information, Suindikov currently oversees 50 employees.

Their work involves asset tracking and, most importantly, verifying and analyzing information about the assets' origins. In other words, these people locate wealth, confirm its illicit nature, and present the evidence to oligarchs.

If the oligarchs don't accept the evidence, they take them to court.

The second organization is the Commission for the Return of Illegally Acquired Assets to the State.

It's headed by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, who previously worked in the Anti-Corruption Agency for at least eight years.

The Commission comprises government officials, law enforcement officers, deputies, and public figures, including Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan President Banu Nurgaziyeva and Chair of the Regional Civil Service Hub's Managing Committee Alikhan Baimenov.

 However, these individuals are not subordinate to Bektenov.

The Committee under the Prosecutor General's Office forwards all cases to the government commission, whose members collectively approve the final decision on recovery and its method.

There are two methods: Voluntary return - where an agreement is signed with an oligarch, and forced return - where the case goes to court, including foreign ones.

This refers to a special registry maintained by the committee under the Prosecutor General's Office and approved by the government commission. The registry contains information about owners of assets of questionable origin.

This is a record of oligarchs and their unexplained wealth (in other words - property subject to confiscation).

They need to prove these assets were legally acquired to get off the hook. The information is legally protected from disclosure, however.

Orda has learned that government commission members have even signed non-disclosure agreements.

NOTE: (from the Law "On Return of Illegally Acquired Assets to the State")

The registry includes information about subjects and/or their affiliated persons, as well as heirs and legal successors of subjects and/or their affiliated persons, who own, possess, or control (or previously owned, possessed, or controlled) or are presumed to own, possess, or control assets that require verification of the legality of their acquisition (origin).

The regulations on including persons in the registry, submitting declarations of asset disclosure, and transferring assets of such persons to state ownership due to recognition as assets of unexplained origin, apply to persons who own, use, possess, or control assets (as well as their heirs and legal successors) with a total value equal to or exceeding thirteen million times the monthly calculation index (51 billion 116 million tenge. - Ed).

The authorized body for asset recovery and commission members are required to ensure the security and confidentiality of the received information.

Who Manages the Oligarchs' Money and Other Assets - and What Else is Important to Know?

The Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan holds the money.

A Special State Fund - a cash control account - was opened in October 2023.

Orda.kz has learned that the state prefers monetary assets, with oligarchs transferring funds directly to the special fund's account, either through voluntary agreement or a court decision. These funds are spent on social projects.

"Company for Managing Returned Assets" LLP stores all other assets that oligarchs have surrendered voluntarily or not: elite Kazakhstan and foreign real estate, luxury vehicles, jewelry, antiques, and other luxury items.

This commercial organization began operations on October 9, 2023, to preserve, manage, and sell assets.

In other words, it becomes the new owner of the oligarchs' assets to sell them and transfer the money to the special fund's account.

Its sole founder is the government, specifically the Committee for State Property and Privatization of the Ministry of Finance.

The company is led by Kuanyshbek Mukash, who took the helm on June 14, 2024. Mukash is no stranger to asset recovery work.

His resume includes service in the Prosecutor's Office - first in the Qaraganda region, then in Astana city, and later in the highest office - the General Prosecutor's Office.

 Mukash has three deputies and an advisor, and the company has four departments: Asset Reception and Management; Economics and Finance; Organizational Control, HR and Legal Support; and Asset Sales.

We believe the company employs a significant amount of staff.

According to the financial report posted on the website, the company ended 2023 with a loss of more than 3.5 million tenge.

During the preparation and approval of that report (which took six months in 2024), the organization received assets worth 36 billion tenge. And in terms of revenue, it appears to have rapidly made up for lost ground: it paid 470.8 million tenge in taxes and mandatory payments in 2024.

Last Wednesday, January 22, the company attempted to generate revenue for 2025.

It put jewelry up for sale through an online auction. There were 19 lots. The most modest starting price of 151,500 tenge was for Kazakh collector's coins "Bata," "Betashar," and "Suindir."

The most impressive starting price was for a "Ulysse Nardin Classic" wristwatch from a limited series of 30 pieces, despite having scratches on the case and a severely damaged strap.

Even with these defects, its starting price was 214.5 million tenge.

However, neither the watch nor the coins nor any of the other 17 lots found buyers. The auction was not held as not a single participant registered.

How Many Assets Have Been Recovered?

Orda.kz has studied official statements and compiled them into a list. 

On November 23, 2023, Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov stated:

To date, assets worth about 1 trillion tenge have been recovered. Of these, about $600 billion came from abroad.

On January 26, 2024, Smailov, still prime minister then, reported that assets worth about 1 trillion tenge had been returned to the country over two years.

The government website clarified:

Bank transactions worth 220 trillion tenge are being examined, including suspicious operations worth 1.4 trillion tenge.

On October 17, 2024, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov reported to the president that since the beginning of 2024, the asset recovery commission had approved agreements worth close to 450 billion tenge.

To date, assets worth 265 billion tenge have been turned over to state revenue, including 177 billion tenge in monetary form, Aqorda reported.

Three weeks later, on November 8, the government website announced that an additional 525 billion tenge had been turned into state revenue.

Since the beginning of this year, agreements for asset recovery totaling over 900 billion tenge have been approved, emphasized Olzhas Bektenov.

Answers to Inquiries

Two agencies provided specific figures, though the numbers again didn't match.

The discrepancy was relatively insignificant, likely meaning there was a margin of error, with the Special State Fund account at the Ministry of Finance holding between 215 billion and 230 billion tenge.

For 2024, funds directly credited to the Special State Fund amounted to 215.6 billion tenge. The first payment to the SSF was received on April 12, 2024. Total expenditures from the SSF were 102.8 billion tenge, the Committee for State Property and Privatization of the Ministry of Finance told us.

They specified that in 2024, several social projects were funded through the SSF, including a sports complex, children's music school, and medical facilities.

This consumed 94.3 billion tenge.

About 230 billion tenge has been transferred to the Special State Fund, and assets worth over 87 billion tenge have been transferred to the balance of the Company for Managing Returned Assets LLP, the Asset Recovery Committee of the General Prosecutor's Office stated in response to our inquiry.

The Company for Managing Returned Assets is subject to annual audits by the Supreme Audit Chamber.

The Ministry of Finance noted that no audit has been conducted yet.

"The Asset Will Be Recovered"

Majilis deputy Marat Bashimov, a member of the government's asset recovery commission, has explained how everything operates.

About the Asset Recovery Law

"In the civilized world, corruption is viewed more broadly. Banks, insurance companies, the entire civil sphere falls under corruption. They apply the convention on civil liability for illegal enrichment. We used it as the basis for developing our law. If you can't prove the origin of money, that's it - it's seized in favor of the state. This is a simple and important principle. No one chases after criminal offenses because the statute of limitations has expired, but asset recovery will happen."

The Registry 

"The registry was made secret for one simple reason. Most oligarchs aren't small entrepreneurs - they have large companies, shares, and so on. At the mere mention of an asset's name, foreign investors drop it from their accounts, and everything can quickly depreciate. This is an objective reason, an argument. And we (Deputies - Ed.) agreed."

Who's in The Registry

"It contains the names of everyone who was close to power, who were the closest. Whether they like it or not, they're listed there."

About the Committee at the Prosecutor General's Office

"If assets were acquired through non-competitive means, if conditions were specially created for this, for example, bankruptcies and purchases at bargain prices, the asset recovery committee has learned to prove this quickly. It costs them nothing to pull up documents from those years. The totality of the Prosecutor's Office's power is being used. For the same reason, the commission was created under the Prime Minister - all executive structures report to him. It's faster and easier to work."

About Voluntary Asset Return

"They (The oligarchs - Ed.) agree to this because there's no point in arguing with the Prosecutor General's Office. No one will give up assets just like that. Every oligarch has a bunch of lawyers. But the Prosecutor's Office has the documents. And the conversation is simple. Here's a 20-year-old contract: the market value of the asset was this much, but you acquired it for pennies."

The Special Fund Account

"This is a special fund. The priority is socially significant goals: construction of schools, hospitals, sports facilities. You can't just take money from there."

Risks of Fund Embezzlement

"They won't try. It's a controlled sphere. Under the supervision of the Head of State, special services, law enforcement agencies. If they stick their hand in there, it'll be cut off quickly... Decisions will be made about them. These aren't the kind of funds people covet."

"We're Just Scaring Everyone"

Financial analyst Rasul Rysmambetov also sees no risks of embezzlement.

However, he's skeptical about asset recovery on the current scale.

In 2022, this was a good and timely initiative. After January Events, when people demanded justice, that's when everything needed to be resolved quickly and the issue closed. If you didn't catch the rabbit in the first ten meters, you'll never catch it. It's already hidden in the forest. If you didn't recover everything or at least identify it in 2022, now it's a very complicated process. Meanwhile, crimes are committed every day. There are simple corrupt officials, financial fraudsters, and they don't sleep. And now law enforcement doesn't have enough strength or people to deal with this, and then there's asset recovery, like a toothache, constantly saying: 'Come on, come on,' the expert told Orda.kz.

He believes asset recovery needs reform.

Approaches need to be reviewed. And we need to start by stopping calling it asset recovery. Because right now we're just scaring everyone. It could be anything. Not a second 'Qazaqstan Halqyna,' of course, because off-budget funds aren't very good either. But we need to move away from the concept of asset recovery. We need to think about how to make people not afraid and voluntarily bring in money. And bring it to the Ministry of Finance's account. We need a clear and understandable procedure. Because now there's already management of (Returned - Ed.) assets and so on. But when assets are managed by non-professionals, even if some general personally handles it, that asset loses value, concluded Rysmambetov.

Orda.kz will continue to monitor the situation.

Original Author: Dmitry Kim