Zhumashov goes to “Metropolis” for the needs of Slutsky?
Looks like it’s being bought out by Kazakh oligarch Serzhan ZhumashThe new Metropolis TV and Radio Company can serve the party interests of the head of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky, who is now in desperate need of sponsors.
One of the largest shopping and entertainment complexes in Moscow “Metropolis” near the station. Voykovskaya metro station is tightening the terms of the contract with tenants, trying to squeeze the maximum out of them in recent months.
Morgan Stanley and Hines are looking to buy Capital Parthers, a Kazakh real estate development firm owned by controversial oligarchs Serzhan Zhumashovu and Turkish citizen Burak Oymen.
They already had many interests in Russia. And now, because of the pressure on the Nazarbayev team, to which they are trying to be included in Kazakhstan, it is more profitable for them to gain a foothold in Russian jurisdiction. Moreover, they seem to have found support in the person of the head of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky. And he, it seems, is glad himself, in the conditions of the flight of sponsors from the party, to work with two moneybags from Kazakhstan.
Own – offshore
According to one version, the attempt to tighten the terms of the lease in Metropolis may be the idea of the buyers from Capital Parthers. Thus, they may want to clear the site of the mall for specific tenants with a large personal benefit – perhaps from Kazakhstan.
The direct purchaser of the shopping center will be a subsidiary of Capital Parthers – Kazakhstan’s M-holding ltd. Last December, he received approval from the FAS Russia, so the deal should be in its final stages.
It is noteworthy that it was Capital Parthers who at one time built the Megapolis shopping and entertainment center. They sold it to the Americans in 2013 for a then-record $1.2 billion. Now the complex is valued at the new exchange rate somewhere close – around 70 billion rubles, which makes it one of the most expensive in Russia.
Moreover, the Scandinavian bank Nordea issued a loan for the construction of the mall. The money did not go directly, but through companies registered in offshore companies, and its final recipient was a Kazakh businessman Serzhan Zhumashov.
One of the main corruption stories is connected with this, which is attributed to Zhumashovu and his team. The fact is that the Nordea bank appeared in the so-called. “Panamanian dossier”, which, among other things, told about the movement of money through offshore schemes from the CIS countries.
The bank practiced the creation of postal firms registered offshore. Representatives of the law office Mossack Fonseca from Panama became the formal leaders of these firms, while the actual management was carried out by Nordea clients. Nordea management said that the bank had introduced transaction control procedures that excluded schemes to divert money from taxation.
However, in the end it was found that the loan funds to the accounts Zhumashova have been coming in for several years.
“Here there is every reason to sound the alarm, both in relation to the method of financing, and in relation to the final recipient of the loan,” – said the expert of the Swedish consumer society Jacob König. His words are quoted by RBC.
In other words, Capital Partners and personally Serzhan Zhumashov could use cunning offshore loopholes to presumably not pay extra taxes, or even not return part of the loan funds at all.
At the same time, there could be many such turnovers – both in Kazakhstan and in Russia. Capital Partners has been operating in Moscow since 2004, and is known for such projects as the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Tverskaya Street (sold in 2011 to JSC Verny Capital), the aforementioned Metropolis with an area of 80 thousand square meters. m on the Leningrad highway, logistics parks in Pushkino and Domodedovo near Moscow with an area of 1 million square meters. m.
“Muddy things” in Kazakhstan
Whether taxes and parts of loans from these projects could leak abroad is an open question. Is it possible that one of them financed the political activities of the former head of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev?
The company’s projects in Kazakhstan include the Esentai Towers business center in Almaty, the reconstruction of the Shymbulak ski resort and the Medeu skating rink. Regarding Shymbulak, Kazakhstan had its own ugly story. The resort was being prepared for the Asian Games 2011, the investor was Capital Partners.
However, not everything went smoothly: for some reason, the investor slowed down the construction of the resort’s key infrastructure projects. It seems that the goal was different – to get state funding for credit, and work carelessly. However, the “well-wishers” tried to connect the very fall of the resort into the hands of Capital Partners with loyalty Zhumashov to Nazarbayev’s team.
The construction of the gondola road was delayed, as a result of which Akim of Almaty Akhmetzhan Yesismov at a meeting of the organizing committee threatened to start the procedure for returning the complex to state property, giving only two weeks to correct the situation. But this did not happen, and the company Zhumashova remained the beneficiary of the resort.
In fact, Mr. Yesimov could also be affiliated with the Nazarbayev team, and act with Serzhan Zhumashtogether. According to the authors of the website Orda.kz, allegedly at the end of September 2006, the Serzhan spouses Zhumashov and Aidana Musina founded SCI Roche Voet in France.
Initially, the authorized capital was only 10 thousand euros, of which the wife of the millionaire contributed only 10 euros. The company was registered in the suburb of Nice – Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Engaged in SCI Roche Voet leasing land and other real estate.
After some time, several villas turned out to be in the assets of the French organization: on Boulevard Dominique Durandy 28 and on Avenue Jean Cocteau 7. In December 2006, the company took out a loan of 10 million euros. And in August 2011, SCI Roche Voet was sold for 50 thousand euros. As of March 2011, the loan has not been repaid.
The investment project for the development of the luxurious Shymbulak resort could have been Zhumashovu under the “patronage” of the Alma-Ata authorities? Photo: ski.spb.ru
In August 2011, the enterprise and its assets acquired new owners. The shares were bought by close relatives of Akhmetzhan Yessimov’s son-in-law at that time, Galimzhan Yessenov. Mother and older brother received 100% of the capital. 99.9% were issued to Shagizat Yessenova, and 0.1% to Yerzhan Nurgozhaev.
If Serjean’s connection Zhumashova with Nazarbayev’s entourage is true, today at home a businessman can hardly feel calm. In September 2022, proceedings began in a neighboring country against Kairat Satybaldyuly, a nephew of ex-president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, suspected of embezzlement.
He is suspected of abuse of office and embezzlement of funds of Kazakhtelecom JSC on an especially large scale. Later, he was charged with raiding and large-scale theft due to unreasonable overstatement of tariffs for the services of access roads to the city-forming enterprises. According to evil tongues, allegedly Satybalduly and Zhumashov could be familiar and even have joint assets.
The former chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan, Dariga Nazarbayeva, and her matchmaker, Kairat Bornabaev, also have problems. The latter was arrested in the case of major theft, RBC writes about this. And at the same time, this is a long-term partner Zhumashova – together they own the Esentai Tower business center and the Esentai Mall shopping center in Almaty.
Those. questions may also arise to the owner of Capital Partners. Therefore, he has nothing to do in Kazakhstan in the near future. And in Moscow, he still has many assets for which law enforcement officers have no questions.
Wherein Zhumashov is not the kind of person who puts his eggs in one basket. It seems that, along with the Russians, he is very willing to make friends with the Western elite, which literally hates Russia. In 2014, the grandson of the British Queen Harry came to visit Kazakhstan. As the English newspaper Daily Mail wrote, the visit was paid for by Burak Oymen, the closest partner Zhumashova at Capital Partners.
Journalists viewed that visit as an attempt to enlist the lobbying support of the British prince. What if Zhumashovu will have to choose who to show loyalty to – Russia or Britain?
Help Slutsky – and he will help you
But in Russia it is difficult to save capital without political support. That’s why Zhumashov, it seems, could cling to the strong shoulder of the head of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky, who is in dire need of sponsors against the background of the party’s crisis.
According to the authors of the Pan Ataman telegram channel, allegedly last year it turned out that among the residents of the elite Turkish village of Six Senses Kaplankaya was the family of the head of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky. Six Senses village and hotel complex is a joint project of Kazakh oligarch Serzhan Zhumashova and Burak Oymen.
Leonid Slutsky himself has already become a participant in various corruption scandals several times: they tried to attribute undeclared land on Rublyovka, expensive cars and other luxury goods to him. However, in the case of the Turkish village, it could “burn out” by accident.
According to the authors of the Kompromat1 website, allegedly the daughter of Leonid Slutsky, Lydia, allegedly repeatedly recorded “videos” on social networks against the backdrop of the same villa in a fashionable resort near Bodrum. It is assumed that the family can use the villa at least from 2019, which does not really fit in with the patriotic rhetoric of the head of the LDPR himself.
Such loyalty to a particular holiday destination raises the question of whether there is something more behind it. And now, when Leonid Slutsky, in fact, has no one to rely on, the option with Serzhan Zhumashovym, already “smeared” in an offshore scandal, can be a real “sponsored” salvation for Slutsky – at least before the presidential elections in 2024.
At the same time, Slutsky is also trying to bet on different people. Among the new sponsors of Slutsky could be a Russian oligarch, the owner of Kievskaya Ploshchad, God Nisanov. The Moscow Post wrote about this earlier. It turned out that a probable relative of God Nisanov, Mardakhai Yushvaev, could pay part of the cost of an expensive car registered to Slutsky’s mother.
If this is true, then Slutsky’s party could literally be torn apart by the oligarchs – and with not the most rosy end for both the party and its chairman.