“Big washing” in the Kazakh way

“When from time to time there is a simple dilemma before this or that inhabitant of a big cottage whether to move in prison or to move to England, he, of course, chooses England...”

Alexey Kolyshevsky

According to the international mass media, Kazakhstan is going to become the member of the international structure on fight against money laundering – Group of development of financial measures on fight against money laundering. This organization studies the methods of money laundering and terrorism financing, and considers the corresponding counter-measures, and also promotes acceptance and implementation of recommendations of the organization worldwide.

It is quite reasonable that this decision is not casual and connected first of all, with “war” declared by Nursultan Nazarbayev against disgraced oligarchs, a lot of years trying to break to the power and to destabilize a situation in the country from abroad.
According to the list of owners of the offshore from all over the world, published on a site of the International consortium of journalists-investigators, Kazakhstan is the leader in Central Asia by number of the persons owning them. Only by preliminary expert estimates, about 200 billion dollars are illegally taken away from Kazakhstan by the Kazakh nouveau in recent years out of borders of the country!

It is known that Russia conducted such fight with the beginning of presidency of Vladimir Putin. The new Russian management managed “to put into place” the lusting after power oligarchs.The first and main victims of opposition became Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky; all others quickly understood and ceased to play policy.
Judging by messages of news agencies after a number of defeats Kazakhstan also achieves today certain successes in this case.

In 2012 the High Court of London sentenced Mukhtar Ablyazov to 22 months of imprisonment for the disrespect shown by him for orders of the court that forced him to move again in races. Let's remind, in Kazakhstan and Russia concerning M. Ablyazov, the former chairman of the board of directors of BTA Bank, the criminal case is investigated of plunder and to a conclusion in the offshore more than 6 billion dollars. In 2013 the Supreme Court of Great Britain seized his property in this country and passed the decision on collecting 2 billion US dollars from the ex-head of BTA. In July of this year Ablyazov was arrested by the Interpol in the south of France and placed in prison. Now the issue of his extradition is resolved. Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine achieve the delivery of “businessman”.

And meanwhile Mukhtar Ablyazov's accomplices come back home. In July, 2013 Pavlov Alexander Vladimirovich is extradited from Spain to Kazakhstan, the former security officer of Mukhtar Ablyazov, his authorized representative and the performer of confidential instructions. It is remarkable that Pavlov A.V. as a part of Ablyazov's organized criminal group not only made large plunders, but also was the organizer of an act of terrorism in the entertaining center “Aya” of Almaty financed by his boss and prevented by intelligence services in March, 2012.

In the summer the authorized representative of M. Ablyazov Veronica Yefimova was arrested in Moscow. According to investigative authorities she held a position of the head of department of corporate business of bank and was one of key organizers of an organized criminal group of Ablyazov, was responsible for registration of the fictitious credits and a conclusion of money in the offshore.

Quite recently in Hungary the Interpol found one more former worker of BTA Bank - Zaure Zhunusova who was in the international wanted list long four years. In structure of the oligarch she was responsible for questions of creation of the offshore companies through which the Russian, Kazakhstan and Ukrainian money was taken away.

One more Kazakh “runner” is the former high-ranking official and the town governor of the city of Alma-Ata Victor Khrapunov became the object of interest of the Swiss Themis. Bodies check his participation in roguish schemes at real estate privatization in Alma-Ata and to a conclusion of millions dollars abroad on a chain of offshore firms.

The Interpol and the German intelligence services show fixed interest to Rakhat Aliyev's person. Holding some high posts in due time, having wallowed in corruption and criminal offenses, Aliyev disappears on Malta since 2007. Now a number of investigations and trials are conducted in EU concerning him. It is a question of money laundering in the territory of the European Union and commission of serious criminal offenses in Kazakhstan.

It is obvious that large-scale fight of the Kazakhstan authorities against the shadow capitals coincided with fight of the developed countries of the world against offshore zones and the secret bank accounts, developed after world financial crisis. Today the West is more interested in economic development, power stability and regional security, than in upholding of interests of fluent oligarchs. We see it on the example of investors of the Cyprian offshore, the Swiss banks, positive reaction of the public and judicial systems of EU to detentions of the above-named persons involved and similar to them worldwide.

At the same time, the experts emphasize that considerable work on fight against money laundering as the conclusion of the capitals from the country is necessary to Kazakhstan still.

For so short term to historical measures many oligarchs lost the political power, however for the present remain the owners of the capitals. But it is for a while. Changes in the world happen very dynamically and many of fugitives can share lot of Mukhtar Ablyazov.

It is possible to get to know what specifically waits for them, having read the fragments from his prison diary published by colleagues of Ablyazov in the Internet: “… They gave a 2-liter bottle of water, food packing, a bag with sleeping things, in the same place there are the plates, nippers for nails, a hairbrush, a toothbrush, two tubes of a toothpaste … In the first day I was placed in the prison cell with the huge young African. The room is narrow as a case, on the left side there are the toilet bowl, a shower booth, a sink with hot and cold water. … The food here is given in small plastic containers … .All is tasteless. I wash down with water from tap …”.