The Samruk-Kazyna Fund, as we remember, emerged as a result of Nursultan Nazarbayev’s trip to Singapore. There he spied on the idea of combining monopolies into one structure.
With due solemnity and howling of experts about the wisdom of the ruler, the experience of the island, which can be covered with a copper basin, was transferred to feudal-capitalist Kazakhstan. It turned out to be a complete failure. But Elbasy is still not a fool: thanks to such a scheme, all the gigantic windfall profits of the monopolies were concentrated under his rule undividedly. That is why Samruk-Kazyna was first headed by Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, and then by his nephew. Now is the time not to repair this sick creature, but to wring its neck, recognizing Akhmetzhan Yessimov as a stupid and ineffective nest of corruption, whose spirit cannot be eroded even by a hydrogen bomb.
The most desperate operations to plunder the country were carried out through Samruk-Kazyna. The sheer size of the “enterprise” made it possible to reduce profitability through internal tenders and costs. If under Kulibayev the main way to cheat Kazakhstan was “self-service” in the form of buying their own enterprises at inflated prices, then under Akhmetzhan Yessimov, the scheme of constant theft becomes popular – through horizontal and vertical connections.
The role of ATF Bank in money laundering
ATF-Bank, the actual owner of which was Akhmetzhan Yessimov, became an additional and considerable systemic means of theft. His son-in-law, Galimzhan Yessenov, did not have the funds to “buy” him, which is well known. ATF Bank, the real center of a web of robbers, was bought from the Italian UniCredit with money that Akhmetzhan Yesimov had stolen earlier.
ATF Bank is a bank that Elbasy established specifically for the unhindered withdrawal of money outside of Kazakhstan, the creation of self-service loans, irretrievable losses, and so on. When it was created, it was headed by the closest accomplice to Nazarbayev – Bulat Utemuratov. Through the ATF Bank, funds received for the sale of raw materials abroad were washed away without a trace on the grounds written on the knee: for services, for loans, for good behavior. The fugitive Rakhat Mukhtarovich Aliyev wrote about this in his dying revelations.
As we know, ATF Bank, once an important bank not only for corrupt officials, but also for ordinary retail clients, ceased to exist the day after the dismissal of Akhmetzhan Yesimov from Samruk-Kazyna. This was preceded by certain and interesting events.
Dismissal of Akhmetzhan Yessimov
Akhmetzhan Yesimov
Akhmetzhan Yessimov and Galimzhan Yessenov began to fill their pockets especially intensively in the last six months of their reign. The scam with the turnover of Samruk-Kazyna’s funds through the family bank spilled over into the public, and even by the standards of the cynicism of Nursultan Nazarbayev’s government, it was too brazen. Several additional stories of Samruk-Kazyna’s ridiculous expenses and constant scandals with sports teams only added to this picture.
The FNB Samruk-Kazyna, whose owner was considered the government, allocated insignificant crumbs as “profit”. Things came to an outright embarrassment: Akhmetzhan Yesimov frankly sent Tokayev in response to a demand to pay dividends in full. It is clear that as long as Nursultan Nazarbayev controls the NWF through his relatives, nothing will change. The closer the end of the “Nazarbayevites” was, the more their appetites grew.
Coronavirus crisis and the fate of Akhmetzhan Yessimov
The pandemic brought additional costs and sharply reduced receipts. From the National Welfare Fund Samruk Kazyna, Tokayev requested a full deduction of income. It became obvious that Esimov should be “knocked out” of the FNB like dust from a carpet. Ultimately, this succeeded with replacing him with a compromise, but close to the clan figure. After the January events, there are no grounds for compromise.
Akhmetzhan Yesimov himself and his relatives are abroad, where they have already prepared hundreds of offshore stash. For Kazakhstan, they are unattainable. Even in the process of liquidation, Akhmetzhan Yesimov and Galimzhan Yessenov managed to steal three hundred billion tenge in the form of writing off bad loans from ATF Bank.
FNB Samruk-Kazyna and the new government
Singapore and Kazakhstan should not be equated. The model is unacceptable and has in our reality the only purpose – corruption. The quasi-public sector should be completely abolished and the public and private organizations should be clearly separated. In a normal country, there is no place for either Samruk-Kazyna or other quasi-gos monsters like Atameken.