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Nursultan Nazarbaev<\/span><\/p>\n
But they offer an unprecedented window into the scale of the real estate investments by Nazarbaev\u2019s relatives, and how many in close proximity to Kazakhstan\u2019s ruling family ended up with luxury assets in exclusive locations.<\/p>\n
RFE\/RL identified at least $785 million in European and U.S. real estate purchases made by Nazarbaev\u2019s family members and their in-laws in six countries over a 20-year span. This figure includes a handful of properties that have since been sold, including multimillion-dollar apartments in the United States bought by Nazarbaev\u2019s brother, Bolat. It does not include a sprawling Spanish estate owned by Kulibaev, for which a purchase price could not be found.<\/p>\n
These acquisitions have been funded by the vast fortunes Nazarbaev\u2019s relatives have amassed in the oil-rich nation\u2019s energy, banking, and other sectors, while at various times also serving in official government posts.<\/p>\n
Nazarbaev\u2019s patronage is widely seen as crucial to the wealth built by his relatives, who have repeatedly and vehemently insisted they are successful businesspeople independent of their family and political connections.<\/p>\n
Prominent among those is Kulibaev, who has been dogged for years by accusations that his wealth, mainly from his work in the oil-and-gas industry, derives from his familial relations. The Financial Times on December 2 said it had uncovered a secret scheme that allegedly channeled tens of millions of dollars from contracts related to a massive gas pipeline to China to Kulibaev. His lawyers denied specifics of the report to the Financial Times and did not respond to queries from RFE\/RL.<\/p>\n
Several of these properties documented by RFE\/RL have been the subject of legal challenges, including permitting disputes, an acrimonious divorce, and British freezing orders on three London residences that were later overturned by a court.<\/p>\n
The investments in pricey foreign properties also come against the backdrop of the country\u2019s overall increase in national wealth since the Soviet collapse. This increased prosperity has lifted livelihoods for many average Kazakhs — but it has also helped the politically connected elite transform into jet-setting tycoons and fodder for newspaper gossip pages.<\/p>\n
And with 80-year-old Nazarbaev in his twilight, there\u2019s a growing uncertainty about what, and who, will succeed him when he fully departs from Kazakh politics — and what might happen to the fortunes of those closest to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe system is so brittle. The political economy that Nazarbaev has built, it\u2019s built on one man,\u201d said Kate Mallinson, a London-based consultant and researcher of Central Asian politics.<\/p>\n
His relatives and closest allies have \u201chedged the bets on the future, not knowing what will happen — and so they\u2019ve had to put assets outside the country,\u201d Mallinson told RFE\/RL.<\/p>\n
Yevgeniy Zhovtis, the head of Kazakhstan\u2019s oldest and largest human-rights organization, said \u201cit is hard to separate the government from the [Nazarbaev] family\u201d and \u201chard to say how it will be in Kazakhstan\u201d after Nazarbaev dies.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot rely on protection from the rule of law when you live in such political systems,\u201d Zhovtis said.<\/p>\n\n