What Is Known About Yerkanat Dzhumabekov?

The thief in law Kamchibek Kolbayev, also known as Kolya Kyrgyz, was killed during a law enforcement operation in October 2023. But he continues to be regularly mentioned in reports from Kyrgyz security forces.

The latest, dated May 15, concerned Kazakh businessman Yerkanat Dzhumabekov, who, according to Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, financed Kolbayev. Orda.kz investigated.

Transcription Matters

The primary information currently available about him comes from the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security. It states that Erkanat Berikbaevich Zhumabekov is a major businessman who sponsored  "K. Asanbek."

Zhumabekov, knowing about the criminal activity of K. Asanbek — specifically, the latter’s systematic receipt of funds from illegal activities such as racketeering, extortion, and coercion of entrepreneurs as part of a criminal group — sought support and patronage for his business interests in the NEGP countries, the security agency stated.

K. Asanbek is none other than Kamchibek Asanbekovich Kolbayev — also known as Kamchi Kolbayev, Kolya Kyrgyz, or Kolya Bishkek.

The original version of the GKNB report also indicated that the businessman had met with Kolbayev at the Bars recreation center in Issyk-Kul and assisted his relatives with travel to Almaty.

However, this information is no longer in the published statement.

At the same time, if you search for "Yerkanat Zhumabekov" on Google, you’ll mostly find news that he is wanted.  Transcription is the reason. Searching for "Yerkanat Dzhumabekov" produces far more results.

Quite The Companion 

According to public records, Yerkanat Dzhumabekov owns just one company — the Almaty-based debt collection agency F Collect. It was founded in January 2024 — after Kolbayev’s death. Based on tax data, F Collect paid 39 million tenge in taxes.

Dzhumabekov is listed as the founder of the company alongside a certain Abbas Omarov. Omarov’s daughter, Zhansaya Shaimakhan, is listed as the agency’s director.

Shaimakhan is also named as the head of a branch of the First Collection Bureau in the village of Otegen Batyr in Almaty Region.

Officially, Dzhumabekov is not affiliated with that bureau — Rustam Abitov heads the parent company.

Yerkanat Dzhumabekov is also listed as the head of JEB, which is involved in residential construction. Very little is known about this firm. No founding date or tax data is available.

However, there is a record of Dzhumabekov filing a lawsuit against the former head of the Kazakh branch of the Swiss airline Comlux, Alexander Kachurin, over a Range Rover SUV. He lost the case.

For a time, Dzhumabekov also held a 50% stake in the Aidabul distillery, located in Aqmola Region.

The other half was owned by Capital Holding LLP, which belongs to Nurali Aliyev.

As Orda.kz reported in 2022, Aliyev owned the distillery until around 2018 — more likely until 2019 — when a Ukrainian firm purchased the facility.

Since 2024, Capital Holding has been headed by Karim Kasymov, the former deputy chair of the board of Transtelecom, one of the main assets linked to Nursultan Nazarbayev’s grandson.

According to records from the Financial Statements Depository, Yerkanat Dzhumabekov was one of the Aidabul distillery’s owners as early as 2012, and had served in its management since 2002.

For roughly six years, Dzhumabekov and Nurali Aliyev were business partners. There is little information on the distillery’s ownership from 2012 to 2021.

Home Sweet Home

Another piece of information that surfaced recently is that Yerkanat Dzhumabekov is the husband of Sayora Batalova, daughter of former Almaty Region Akim Amandyk Batalov.

However, Orda.kz sources clarified that this is no longer the case — Dzhumabekov and Batalova are now divorced.

Sayora Batalova is also described as a prominent entrepreneur.

 Yet, judging by her tax records, her ventures haven’t been particularly successful. For example, her company, J'adore LLC, paid just 912,000 tenge in taxes over five years. Another company of hers, Solid Crystal, has paid 197,500 tenge since 2017. There is no available data on taxes paid by her individual entrepreneur registration.

Last year, land worth 339 million tenge was confiscated from her.

In March of this year, Dat published a piece about an elite townhouse on Kerey-Zhanibek Khandar Street, located near the former residence of Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Until 2022, the property was managed by the Almaly Gornaya 103 B cooperative. The March article claimed the presence of Naila Belbaeva, wife of Argyn Nigmatulin — declared wanted — and brother to Nurlan Nigmatulin. 

Belbaeva is reportedly the current owner of the house.

According to public records, Almaly Gornaya 103 B was established in 2015. In 2017, one of the founders (stakeholders) became Yeldos Kospayev — known as “The Man-eater of Bolat Nazarbayev” — who was sentenced to 15 years in January of this year. 

In 2020, Yerkanat Dzhumabekov joined the cooperative. If until around 2020 he was a partner of Nurali Aliyev, then over the next two years he was also "a neighbor" of his uncle’s closest ally.

A woman named Batalova is also listed among the founders — but this is not the daughter of the former Akim. It is Akmaral Batalova, wife of former Vice Minister of Culture and Sports Askar Batalov. 

As far as available information suggests, she has no familial ties to Dzhumabekov’s former in-laws.

Orda.kz obtained phone numbers allegedly belonging to Yerkanat Dzhumabekov.

We attempted to contact him for comment on the allegations raised by Kyrgyz security services. Only one number was active, but no one answered.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin