Kazakh authorities received $350 million in cash and jewelry from Kairat Satybaldy, who was sentenced to 6 years for theft and confiscation of property

The nephew of ex-President Nazarbayev was ordered to share

$120 million was returned to the budget of Kazakhstan in the case of assets illegally withdrawn from the country Kairat Satybaldy – the convicted nephew of the country’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. About it reports the press service of the Kazakhstan Anti-Corruption Agency.

The Anti-Corruption Service stated that over the past two years, assets worth more than 912 billion tenge (almost $2 billion) have been returned to the budget and entities of the quasi-public sector. The assets include not only money, but also administrative buildings, exclusive jewelry, luxury houses, apartments and cars, shares and shares in companies, and railway tracks.

Kairat Satybaldy is the son of Satybaldy Nazarbayev, the brother of the first president of Kazakhstan who died in a car accident. He subsequently took his father’s name as his surname. Kairat owned almost a quarter of the monopolist in the Kazakh telecommunications services market through the company Skyline Investment Company SA. Over the years, he served in the National Security Committee, was actively involved in politics and business, and became one of the richest people in Kazakhstan. In the republic he was considered the financial manager of the Nazarbayev clan and the patron of the Salafis – followers of a branch of Islam known for its radicalism.

On March 13, 2022, the businessman was detained by the anti-corruption service of Kazakhstan on suspicion of abuse of power and theft of Kazakhtelecom funds on an especially large scale. The next day, searches were carried out in the capital office of the company; a month later, companies controlled by the businessman returned the package to state ownership 28.8% shares of Kazakhtelecom.

On September 26, 2022, the court sentenced Satybaldy to six years in prison in the case of theft at Kazakhtelecom JSC and CFTS JSC. In November of the same year, exclusive precious stones and jewelry worth over $230 million were returned to Kazakhstan in the case of a businessman.

Satybaldy is serving his sentence in a medium security correctional facility. The other day he filed a petition on parole, however the court refused himexplaining that “the behavior of the convicted person is not impeccable.”

Deal from custody: how Kairat Satybaldy bought Hilton while in prison

The fashionable Hilton hotel in the center of Almaty was purchased by Kairat Satybaldy, the nephew of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is in custody. A Mazhilis deputy spoke about this Maksat Tolykbay. Even before this deal, the expensive hotel had a long history of litigation. Orda.kz decided to understand the history of the long-suffering hotel and find out how Satybaldy managed to buy the hotel from custody.

Mazhilisman Maksat Tolykbay, during one of the meetings of deputies and representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office, said that during his trip to Almaty, 160 employees of the Hilton hotel approached him with complaints.

But that’s not the most interesting thing. During a meeting with the administration and employees of the hotel, the deputy learned that Hilton had now come into the possession of Nazarbayev’s nephew.

Despite the fact that Satybaldy had been under investigation since September 2022 and his property had been confiscated, he somehow concluded a deal to purchase a hotel. According to the deputy, this happened with the help of other people who helped him gain access to documents, to a notary, and ultimately complete the deal.

Who Really Owns Hilton?

DoubleTree by Hilton is an American hotel chain that is part of Hilton Worldwide. The brand’s first hotel in Kazakhstan opened in Almaty in 2019. The construction of the facility for 10 years was carried out by the Abli-Kurylys company, the first director of which is Sholpan Karaneeva. It would seem that the American franchise should have brought great turnover to the businesswoman, but in 2022 the five-star hotel became the center of a raider scandal.

Last year, Sholpan Karaneeva filed a lawsuit against a number of influential people, accusing them of a raider takeover of her business. Businessman and owner of Capital Bank Orifdzhan Shadiev and nephew of the ex-president Kairat Satybaldy are mentioned in the scandal.

Karaneeva told the media that before the opening, she put the unfinished facility as collateral and took out a loan from Capital Bank for 4.2 billion tenge. During the pandemic, the state accommodated small and medium-sized businesses by allowing deferred loan payments. Despite this, Capital Bank demanded payment of the entire debt. Later, the collection company “Zanger” sold the hotel at half its cost. Karaneeva went to court, but did not win.

Already in 2022, the entrepreneur learned that the bank had put Hilton up for sale in order to cover debts to other clients. By the way, Capital Bank Kazakhstan JSC at that time was at the stage of liquidation (from October 5, 2021, the decision on liquidation entered into legal force – editor’s note).

Who sold the hotel to Kairat Satybaldy?

From the words of Majilisman Maksat Tolykbay, it becomes clear that the hotel is being bought at a reduced price by the Baidala V partnership. The founder and first director of which is a certain Bakhytzhan Kulbaev.

The partnership was formed in 2021, and to this day is engaged in leasing and managing its own real estate.

It is noteworthy that over the three years of the company’s existence, the dynamics of tax revenues grew exponentially. If in 2021 taxes amounted to 11 million, then in 2022 it will already be more than 100 million tenge. In the current year 2023, one can notice an abnormal increase of almost 2 billion tenge. Whether this is related to the sale of the hotel at the beginning of the year is a rhetorical question.

Thus, on January 12, 2023, Baidala V LLP and Kairat Satylbaldy enter into a purchase and sale agreement for the hotel complex. By the way, Satylbaldy was already in prison at that time, so he could not conclude the deal on his own.

This was done instead by a certain Adilet Abilay, born in 1994. On behalf of Kairat Satybaldy, on the basis of a power of attorney issued back in October 2022, he entered into an agreement to purchase the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel. By the way, the power of attorney was issued by the notary of the city of Astana, Araylym Beisenbaeva.

Contract of sale

The transaction amount was almost 6.5 billion tenge. Of these, about 6 billion is for the cost of the administrative building, and the remaining 500 thousand tenge is for the land plot.

Contract of sale

What will happen next?

Mazhilisman Maksat Tolykbay and businesswoman Sholpan Karaneeva herself have already sent all complaints to Antikor and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
IN parliamentary request And businesswoman’s statement it refers to a criminal group led by Kairat Satybaldy. According to the text, it includes:

Capital Bank employees

Director of the collection agency “Zanger” – AYigul Zakaryanova

Director of Baidala V LLP – Bakhytzhan Kulbaev

Appraiser of Dom Otsenki LLP — Ardak Ondasbaev.

Businesswoman Sholpan Karaneeva tells the media that today interested groups are actively working to transfer the hotel into state ownership on behalf of Kairat Satybaldyuly, in order to then register it in their name through an auction at a reduced cost. Thus, despite the arrest of Satybalda, raiding continues.