Rakishev Kenes: Kazakh mafia in the steppes of Ukraine. PART 2

CONTINUATION. START: Kenes Rakishev: Kazakh mafia in the steppes of Ukraine. PART 1

Having gathered his own clan, Balgimbayev was a very powerful figure, however, he also fell victim to the Kazakh game of thrones: in 2002-2003. people from his circle (Ablyazov, Giffen) were arrested on charges of large-scale financial fraud. But in May 2003, Nazarbayev personally pardoned Ablyazov (the reason for this is unknown, but very curious), and he went to Moscow to participate in the Moscow City construction project, where he became a partner of the Ukrainian-Russian oligarch Pavel Fuks, closely associated with Kharkov mayor Gennady Kernes. However, at the end of 2008, Ablyazov again fell into disgrace, and this time Timur Narazbayev did not spare him, so serious charges were brought against Ablyazov, including ordering the murder of the former chairman of the board of BTA Tatishev (whose place was later taken by Mukhtar Ablyazov) . So Mukhtar Ablyazov had no choice but to urgently flee to Europe – where, by the way, he became one of the initiators of the public scandal surrounding the relationship between Timur Kulibayev and Goga Ashkenazi.

The reason for these disgraces was said to be the struggle of the clans of Nazarbayev’s daughters for concentration in their hands of all the financial schemes of the presidential family. They themselves sought to become the main “cashiers” of the president, which would not only allow them to “take away dad’s pension,” but would also give them even more opportunities to achieve their cherished goal – continuity of power. So far, very little is known about which of the “princesses” contributed most to the fall of Balgimbayev and his people in 2002. But after Ablyazov’s new disgrace in 2009-2010. It was the clan of Dinara and Timur Kulibayev that stood – and their “accountant” Kenes Rakishev took an active part in this.

What happened is this: against the background of the global economic crisis, the government of Kazakhstan decided to “reform” the banking sector and in February 2009 carried out the nationalization of BTA – at that time the largest credit bank in Kazakhstan, and the first in terms of the volume of its investments in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), Ukraine and Belarus. For this purpose, a holding company for managing state assets, the Samruk-Kazyna Fund, was created (to which controlling stakes in the largest state-owned companies were transferred), headed by Timur Kulibayev, and this holding absorbed 78% of BTA shares (by 2014, bringing the stake to 97%). The takeover was an actual “squeezing out” of the bank according to an intricate scheme, using all government levers. And here’s what’s interesting: on the one hand, this nationalization was carried out in the interests of the Kulibayev clan, but on the other hand, it was actively promoted by the then head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Grigory Marchenko and the entire pro-Russian lobby in the government, as well as Skelet.Info has an assumption about the possible acquisition of BTA by the Russian Oschadbank. So in this story, the pro-Russian vector of the Kulibayev clan – to which Kenes Rakishev belongs – was clearly revealed once again.

It should also be mentioned that the then nationalization of BTA included the takeover of its subsidiary banks in the CIS countries – including the Ukrainian BTA Bank, one of the shareholders of which was the Ukrainian raider Andrei Portnov. And although the takeover of the Ukrainian BTA Bank dragged on for several years, it accelerated significantly after Kenes Rakishev was appointed chairman of the board of directors of BTA in 2013 in Kazakhstan.

By the way, Rakishev not only completely absorbed the Ukrainian BTA Bank, but also almost left Ukraine without the Dnepropetrovsk military hospital – a key rear site of the ATO, where almost half of all wounded are treated. The fact is that back in 2007, the then Minister of Defense Anatoly Gritsenko mortgaged the hospital (all buildings and territory) to BTA Bank, and after the loan defaulted, it became the property of the bank. And in 2016, Kenes Rakishev transferred this hospital to the Kazakh BTA, which had already been absorbed by other banks. This legal snag did not allow the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to even overhaul the hospital (after all, the buildings already belonged to a Kazakh bank), and then the Ukrainian side had to take a different route: clearly explain to Rakishev’s representatives that if they interfere with the treatment of wounded Ukrainian soldiers, then they will not talk to them in the language of the law.

But in Rakishev’s claims to the pharmaceutical plant in Boryspil, the Ukrainian authorities, on the contrary, met him halfway. This enterprise under the Max-Well brand was built back in 2008 with money actually withdrawn from BTA totaling about $110 million. During his flight, Mukhtar Ablyazov transferred the assets of the enterprise to the Zdorovye company, which is owned by his partner, former State Duma deputy Alexander Shishkin. After Ablyazov’s thefts were recognized even in European courts, his assets could be seized. And in 2016, Rakishev achieved the arrest of this factory in a Ukrainian court. It would seem that justice has triumphed, but what good does this do for Ukraine?

So, at the end of 2013, Kenes Rakishev appeared at BTA, where he began vigorous activity, and on February 14, 2014, he became its new manager – this was quite logical, since the bank was completely owned by the Samruk-Kazyna holding, managed by Kulibayev. A few months later, it became known that the bank had a portfolio of problem loans worth 2.4 trillion tenge ($7.5 billion). But problem loans in the vast majority of cases are loans given to pocket companies to withdraw money from the bank. Whether Rakishev or his predecessor distributed these loans is not important, since all the leaders of BTA, starting in 2009, were Kulibayev’s people. True, they all traditionally blamed Mukhtar Ablyazov for everything.

Then, in 2014, they decided to privatize the previously nationalized BTA again. And its new owners were Kazkommertsbank (controlled by Kulibayev) and Kenes Rakishev, who each received 46.5% of the shares. At the same time, Skelet.Info information appeared that Kazkommertsbank opened a credit line for BTA in the amount of $7.5 billion, apparently to repay its problem loans. There was no longer any doubt about the fate of the money stolen with the help of these problem loans: after all, Rakishev took the funds from somewhere to buy out almost half of BTA! Then, in 2015, information appeared that Rakishev became a co-owner of Kazkommertsbank, and over the year he increased his stake from 16 to 71%. Essentially, this build-up was expressed in the fact that Rakishev was squeezing other shareholders out of the bank, buying out or “squeezing out” their shares.

Finally, in 2017, the finale of this grandiose scam took place. The Kazakhstan Problem Loan Fund (100% government funds) allocated $7.5 billion to repay BTA’s problem loans – on the condition that this amount would then be transferred to Kazkommertsbank to repay the credit line open to BTA. Thus, the arrears of $7.5 billion, which arose after the withdrawal (theft) of depositors’ money and refinancing funds from BTA, were closed at the expense of the state, and both banks (BTA and Kazkommertsbank) restored their positive financial balance. Immediately after this, Kenes Rakishev sold Kazkommertsbank to another bank – the People’s Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK), also known as Halyk Bank or Halyk Bank. The main shareholder of the NBK is the ALMEX Holding Group (then 78%, now almost 90%), which is wholly owned by the Kulibayevs. Moreover, he didn’t even sell it, but transferred ownership for a symbolic fee of 1 tenge (a few kopecks), simply giving all his shares to the boss. This is a trick that convincingly confirms that Kenes Rakishev, who declares himself to be an advanced financier of Kazakhstan, is only Timur Kolobaev’s trusted assistant in the implementation of particularly large murky schemes.

Rakishev Kenes: Kazakh mafia in the steppes of Ukraine. PART 2

Kenes Rakishev: Russian vector and girls on call

It was noted that the sharp increase in the activity of the Kulibayev clan began simultaneously with the Ukrainian Euromaidan and greatly accelerated in the spring of 2014, when the first Western economic sanctions against Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) were introduced. And then, let us remind you, Dariga Nazarbayeva, the rival of her sister Dinara Kulibayeva, launched a counterattack. It should be noted that Dariga has become a very experienced politician, so now no one can definitely say which foreign policy vector she adheres to. She is not pro-Russian, although she is seeking the support of the Slavic population of Kazakhstan. She could be called more likely pro-European, but she is completely devoid of the ingratiation to the West inherent in such politicians, besides, in Dariga Nazarbayeva one can discern the features of a tough tyrant, and some of her statements would make even Hitler’s eyes widen. There is an opinion that she secretly professes a pro-Chinese vector and is a supporter of the creation of a powerful Asian union – a project opposite to Putin (*criminal)’s EurAsEC, without the dominant role of Moscow. So far, one thing is known: Dariga Nazarbeva’s new political ascent is connected with the events in Ukraine in 2014, and with the beginning of a new “cold war” between the West and Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), and with the next “vector wagging” of her father-President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the disgrace of the Kulibayev clan – who bet on the pro-Russian vector.

Rakishev Kenes: Kazakh mafia in the steppes of Ukraine. PART 2

The Kulibayevs’ purchase of financial structures (banks) is also associated with this, and there is interesting unofficial information here. According to sources Skelet.Infothe Kulibayevs, together with their faithful nuker Kenes Rakishev, are not just putting their eggs in other baskets in case of a “nook,” but have created a powerful banking scheme commissioned by Russian oligarchs, and maybe even the Kremlin. The meaning of this is as follows: if suddenly Western sanctions created problems for the work of a number of Russian companies, then some financial transactions would be carried out through Kazakh banks controlled by the Kulibayevs.

Well, this is not the first time for Kazakh oligarchs and high-ranking officials to provide this kind of service – as mentioned above, in the 90s, the presidential “cashier” Nurlan Balgimbayev helped Dudayev’s Ichkeria implement its oil schemes, including in Ukraine. And here it is worth paying attention to another Kazakh-Chechen connection: the emphatically “brotherly” relationship of the current head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, with Kenes Rakishev, whom he enthusiastically calls both “brother” and “prince.” What brought them together so much, was it really only adherence to the pro-Russian vector? No, it’s still the same oil! “Thousands of lives were given so that the owners of wells and pipes would simply change,” Anna Politkovskaya once wrote. And if in the 90s these oil schemes were controlled by Maskhadov’s entourage and the Kazakh clan of Nurlan Balgimbayev, then in the 2000s, Ramzan Kadyrov and the Kulibayev clan, whose authorized representative is Kenes Rakishev, became their masters. So the joint projects of Kadyrov-controlled Grozneftegaz and Kulibayev-controlled KazMunaiGaz, hidden somewhere in the depths of offshores, could say much more about their “brotherly friendship.”

Ramzan Kadyrov and his “dear BROTHER” Kenes Rakishev

But Kenes Rakishev is friends not only with the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), but also with relatives of criminal “authorities”. It was in such company that he accidentally found himself in the frame of an amateur camera at the World Nomad Games in 2016. Next to Rakishev stood a man whom they recognized as Anvar Gabbazov, the heir to a family crime clan about whom there had been no news for a long time. His father Ilshat Gabbazov, an authoritative figure in the Uyghur diaspora of Kyrgyzstan, was a criminal businessman (according to some sources, the leader of an ethnic organized crime group) who was involved in “a little bit of everything” back in Soviet times. And his brother Rustam Ilshatovich Gabbazov was a “crowned thief” nicknamed Dnepropetrovsk, who moved to Moscow in the 90s. In 2004, their family was subjected to destruction: Ilshat Gabbazov was killed in Bishkek, and a few weeks later Rustam Gabbazov was allegedly arrested in his cottage near Moscow (according to other information, he was kidnapped), and has since sunk into the water. So the entire inheritance of the family clan went to Anwar, who became a major businessman conducting his business in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). What connects him with Rakishev? This is a good question, but one that remains unanswered for now.

Kenes Rakishev and Anvar Gabbazov

Another criminal scandal associated with Rakishev is the famous shootout on Rochdelskaya Street (Moscow, December 14, 2015), to which there is even a page on Wikipedia. Of course: not only were two people killed and 8 injured, but VIPs of Kazakhstan were also involved in it. All this happened near the Elements cafe, owned by Zhanna Kim, whose origins have long been the subject of speculation: in some versions she is the illegitimate daughter of a Kazakh official, in others she is a relative of the Kazakh banker Vyacheslav Kim. What is known is that Kenes Rakishev and Vyacheslav Kim are friends and business partners, and they also have joint charitable projects. But Rakishev and Zhanna Kim are lovers, and this has long been an open secret.

Kenes Rakishev and Zhanna Kim

It was Rakishev who financed the opening of her restaurant “Elements”, because of which Zhanna quarreled with another “socialite” from Kazakhstan: Fatima Misikova, whose company provided Zhanna with design services for which she refused to pay. Then Fatima complained to her “roof” (according to another version – her lover), the criminal “authority” Zakhary Kalashov, known under the nickname Shakro Molodoy. He realized that for the “jamb” Zhanna Kim could be demanded much more than the fee for the designer’s services, and sent a whole detachment of his militants (officially registered employees of the private security company) to her for a “showdown”, led by his henchman Andrei Kochuykov ( nickname Italian), a former member of the Orekhovskaya organized crime group. But Kenes Rakishev immediately came to Zhanna’s aid, who, in turn, sent his friend Eduard Budantsev, a former FSB officer who opened a law office to resolve “sensitive situations,” to “resolve the issue.” In general, at the meeting place, the “lawyers,” as they say, crushed the “security guards,” and Budantsev fired from his award-winning combat pistol. The matter did not end with a shootout: the investigation that then began was interrupted several times, revealing monstrous corruption in the law enforcement agencies of Moscow, and simply blatantly cynical in the law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan. Of course, Rakishev’s name did not come up in the case, since he generously paid Russian investigators and judges, while the Kazakh ones simply did not dare to take his name in vain.

But Zhanna Kim alone was not enough for the loving Kenes Rakishev, and the media more than once reported on his piquant sexual adventures. Thus, his romantic encounters with unsuccessful actress Chelsea Pereira, who was much more successful in the “escort services” business, were savored in detail. Kenes paid tens of thousands of dollars for these services – stolen from the people of Kazakhstan. One day, in 2014, Chelsea invited Kenes to expand the horizons of intimate relationships and have a threesome, for which she invited her friend and colleague, unsuccessful model Tiera Carlson. It is not known whether Kenes managed to master the “multi-station”, but meticulous journalists were able to obtain the details of his correspondence with Chelsea and post them on the Internet (see printout). And Chelsea Pereira was then assigned to a cameo role in some third-rate film, to the budget of which Rakishev contributed.

Kenes Rakishev and Chelsea Pereira

and their correspondence

It should be noted that in still quite conservative Kazakhstan, adultery is much more rare than in Ukraine and even more so in the West. Not that this is so much condemned, but in the case of Kenes Rakishev it could be regarded as an insult to his wife and high-ranking father-in-law. However, since his boss Timur Kulibayev was not afraid to offend Nazarbayev himself in the same way, then Rakishev did not hesitate. Moreover, he had a blast: both with the British “actresses” and with the Russian teenagers. The latter were supplied to him, in particular, by the famous pimp Pyotr Listerman, the owner of a “vip dating agency” with whom Rakishev has been actively “cooperating” since 2007 (then Listerman sent Rakishev and Kulibayev two 18-year-old “accompanyes”). But their correspondence in 2013 became another trophy for journalists, from which you can find out that Listerman found for Rakishev not just another sex toy, but some kind of “beast”!

Correspondence between Rakishev and Listerman

But a little earlier, in 2012, Listerman proposed 15-year-old Elena Selezneva to Rakishev. “Super! Skolko?” – Rakishev answered enthusiastically, and immediately received an offer from Listerman to take 17-year-old Alina Marasik. Moreover, Listerman supplied his “girls” under the guise of “translators”, and charged up to 100 thousand dollars for their services for a week of “work”.

It is worth emphasizing that over the past few years, sex adventures have become an integral part of not only leisure, but also the business of Kenes Rakishev. Take, for example, his joint project FINNEY with Israeli businessman-adventurer Moshe Hogeg. It turns out that Rakishev invested money not only in Hogeg’s “crypto-smartphone”, but also in his young Israeli girls, which he repeatedly “pushed” to Rakishev as a gift. As a return gift, the satisfied Rakishev brought “special girls” from Kazakhstan to Hogeg.

Moshe Hogeg and Kenes Rakishev

Crypto scammers

Perhaps regular information leaks from his smartphone gave Kenes Rakishev the idea of ​​​​creating some kind of super-secure means of communication with his suppliers of “girls”. Or maybe he just accidentally came across this concept somewhere and found an unusual, but very profitable application for it. In general, in 2012, just before starting a grandiose scam involving the takeover of the robbed BTA, Rakishev announced that he was investing in high technology. And he really invested in the Israeli company “SirinLabs” – which before that was doing who knows what, and its director Moshe Hogeg wrote programs that no one needed and were not in demand. First, Moshe practically scammed Rakishev out of $20 million, which he invested in the creation of the Mobli mobile application, billed as a free replacement for Instagram. This project also turned out to be of no use to anyone and was closed in 2016.

But by that time, Moshe had promoted Rakishev for a new project (and he, as usual, had scooped up “free” millions somewhere), and in London, a super-secure smartphone “Solarin” was presented, released under the banner of the “Sirin Labs” company specially created two years earlier. – behind the façade of which the same Hogeg was giggling. And again a failure: a smartphone costing from $13,800 (like a dozen iPhone 8 Plus) differed only in its 23-megapixel camera, but otherwise it was a semblance of budget Chinese smartphones, squeezed into a metal case trimmed with leather and gold. And the processor in it, which is far from new, simply could not cope with the encryption and re-encryption of information, so the smartphone constantly “glitched” and “freezed”. In general, this project also failed – and cost Rakishev $72 million.

Another oligarch in Rakishev’s place would have sent Hogeg to the genies and demanded his money back. But, apparently, Hogeg’s “girls” so skillfully pleased Rakishev that he agreed to Hogeg’s new projects. Several of them were presented: the SRN (sirin) cryptocurrency, also known as a “token,” which Hogeg and Rakishev still dream of raising to the level of Bitcoin; as well as the “Finney” crypto-smartphone and crypto-computer, which should work with these same “tokens” and other cryptocurrencies, plus provide their owners with super-protection of their data. At the same time, taking into account the failure of the previous “smartphone for the rich”, the cost of the Finney crypto-smartphone was already only a few hundred dollars, and the components used for it were not old ones, bought on sale in China, but newer ones, so it works almost flawlessly. Almost, because its own operating system, Sirin OS, the brainchild of the shadowy genius Moshe Hogeg, has not yet been sufficiently tested in practice. The mass production of crypto-smartphones is only planned for the end of 2018: if enough investments are collected, their production will be undertaken by the Taiwanese company Foxconn (more expensive option) and the Chinese Huawei (low-cost option).

So now the main task of Hogeg and Rakishev is to collect this money. Since Rakishev no longer wants to spend his money on business experiments, he and Hogeg came up with this “cryptocurrency-cryptosmarphone” scheme. Moreover, experts already see the essence of this scheme not in creating a phone-wallet, because sooner or later Apple and Samsung will begin to produce them en masse, against which Finney has no chance. The essence of this scam is to create a stir around your “sirins” under the hype of the presentation of a new crypto-smartphone, making money on their purchase and sale, which has already been going on since 2015. “The boys” simply decided to launch their own analogue of Bitcoin, with the expectation of crazy dividends!

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info

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