Jailed oligarch’s oil company, other assets handed over to state

18.10.2023, 20:22 exclusive.kz

An oil company and several other businesses linked to a jailed oligarch connected to former president Nursultan Nazarbayev have been handed over to the state, according to reports.

The shareholders of the oil and gas extraction company Phystech II, which was partially owned by Kayrat Boranbayev, have voted to “voluntarily” transfer to the state 100 percent of the shares in the company, worth over 74m dollars, the national stock exchange KASE reported on its website on 12 October.

On Wednesday the Financial Monitoring Agency said that Boranbayev transferred to the state a shopping mall in Almaty, other business properties and a chain of fitness centres worth over 70m dollars.

The agency said the properties will be used as public leisure, health and education centres.

Boranbayev was arrested in March 2022, in the wake of the deadly January anti-government protests, which are seen as a coup attempt by ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s allies.

In 2021 Forbes Kazakhstan estimated Boranbayev’s net worth at 590m dollars. His daughter Alima was married to former president Nazarbayev’s late grandson Aisultan.

In March, Boranbayev was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of embezzlement. Last month, his jail terms was reduced to six years after he had reportedly handed over to the government assets worth nearly 190m dollars, including a hotel in Astana, and donated another 62m dollars for supporting education infrastructure, authorities said.