It seems that Timur Kulibayev, a member of the Gazprom Board of Directors, is spending the New Year holidays in the UAE. His Bombardier Global 6000 business jet took off from Nur-Sultan on January 2 and landed at Dubai International Airport.
Kazakh top manager Timur Kulibayev is known for his love of escorts. Former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, he is the son-in-law. And in 2020, Kulibayev found himself at the center of a scandal over allegations of financial fraud during the construction of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China. According to rumors, Kulibayev himself could have embezzled more than $53 million.
SCANDALS IN GAZPROM STRUCTURES
For the Russian Gazprom, 2021 also turned out to be a difficult year. Two heads of the holding’s Krasnodar subsidiary, as well as four other vice directors of its city branches, became defendants in criminal cases. So, in the case of commercial bribery, Alexei Rudnev, General Director of Gazprom Gas Distribution Krasnodar and Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Krasnodar, was detained. His subordinates in Sochi, Gelendzhik, Anapa and Krasnodar were also detained. According to investigators, together they illegally earned more than 20 million rubles. Rudnev combined his activities in the structures of Gazprom with the work of a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnodar Territory. The leadership of United Russia claimed that Rudnev’s membership in the party was in question.
It is noteworthy that Rauf and Raul Arashukov also became defendants in criminal cases due to embezzlement in subsidiaries of Gazprom. Raul Arashukov is accused of organizing a criminal community that stole natural gas in the North Caucasus. The damage in this case was estimated at 30 billion rubles. And Rauf Arashukov is accused of participating in a criminal community and organizing two murders.