Posted 11 февраля 2022,, 18:11

Published 11 февраля 2022,, 18:11

Modified 24 декабря 2022,, 22:38

Updated 24 декабря 2022,, 22:38

Luxury can be seen from space: chic castles and villas of the Nazarbayev family found in Germany

Luxury can be seen from space: chic castles and villas of the Nazarbayev family found in Germany

11 февраля 2022, 18:11
Фото: elbasy.kz
Nursultan Nazarbayev, through a network of funds accountable to him, controls solid assets, including banks, hotels, TV channels, shopping centers and much more. In Germany, journalists found luxurious real estate owned by the family of the ex-president, which is estimated at hundreds of millions of euros.

Sergey Kron

Over the long years of Nazarbayev's rule, a narrow circle of billionaires has formed in Kazakhstan, including members of the president's family and officials close to him. The situation remained virtually unchanged even after Nazarbayev left the presidency in 2019 and headed the national Security Council, appointing Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as his successor. This explains why the protests against the increase in prices for liquefied gas that began in early January in the west of Kazakhstan quickly turned into mass discontent throughout the country. People demanded political changes, and they had claims against a specific person. The crowd chanted, "Old man, go away!" Nazarbayev left, having hidden more than 8 billion dollars in Europe and America "for a rainy day".

The family of Nursultan Abishevich is called the richest clan in the country. He has three daughters. Especially famous is the eldest - Dariga. Successful businesswoman: her fortune is estimated by experts at 600-800 million dollars. Dariga owns the legendary London mansion of Sherlock Holmes, a couple of chic palaces and expensive apartments in New York.

The average daughter of Dinara Kulibayeva, according to Forbes magazine, has a fortune of $ 2.5 billion. Together with her husband, she owns controlling stakes in the country's leading enterprises. In addition, her family has villas in Europe and a 17th-century castle in Switzerland.

Aliya Nazarbayeva's youngest daughter is known for marrying the son of Kyrgyz President Aidar Akayev at the age of 18, in what appeared to be an ancient Asian tradition of "mixing royal blood" for geopolitical gains. But exactly the opposite happened. The marriage quickly collapsed, and relations between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan became noticeably more complicated. However, Alia is said to have managed to smuggle over $300 million out of the country, with which she bought a house in London, a private jet and real estate in Dubai.

There are assets abroad and the "father of the nation" Nazarbayev himself. Investigators are busy with it now. However, much has already become clear thanks to the efforts of German journalists.

Such luxury can be seen even from space

Frescoes, luxurious chandeliers made of expensive crystal, ceilings made of precious wood, skillful stucco - the interior decoration of the Seelach Palace in Baden-Baden is amazing. Those few who have visited the estate unanimously say: this is the most impressive thing that has been done for the money of multimillionaires from the countries of the former USSR.

In the 19th century, Zeela, as Deutsche Welle journalists found out, was the summer residence of the famous Russian diplomat, Privy Councilor Mikhail Khreptovich. But what was done to the castle today, the aristocrat never dreamed of. The new owners from Kazakhstan, the daughter of ex-president Dinara and Nazarbayev's son-in-law Timur Kulibayev, having rebuilt a historic villa, the builders laid out a landscape park with fountains on the territory, and under it placed a luxurious spa area of about 1,000 square meters. The glass dome over the 25-meter pool is visible even in pictures from space.

The arrangement of the elite estate lasted almost a decade and was completed two years ago. The issue price is 60 million euros. According to documents from the German registry, it was for this amount that the authorized capital of Schloss Seelach Invest, which owns Seelach, was gradually increased during the years of reconstruction of the estate.

“They did not spare money”, one of the workers involved in the reconstruction shared with DW. - The builders reported on each step, sending photos to Astana.

One day, the customers did not like the frescoes, and they ordered to redo the work, for which the artist had already been paid about 150,000 euros”.

In addition to the Zeelach estate, the Nazarbayevs own three more properties in the region, including two historical monuments - the villa of the famous architect Gustav Stroh built in the early 20th century in Baden-Baden itself and the Bühlerhöhe Castle Hotel. In total, more than 100 million euros were invested in villas and hotels.

Clarity was made in the German registries. The founder of Schloss Seelach Invest GmbH - the owner of the Seelach estate - is the Kazakh company Verus Praedium International, which, in turn, belongs to the Kipros company from Almaty. Finally, all questions about owners are removed by the Transparenzregister Transparency Register, created in Germany several years ago to combat money laundering. According to an extract from it, the beneficiary of Schloss Seelach Invest GmbH is Timur Kulibaev.

In the course of a journalistic investigation, it turned out that 20 years ago, Ukrainian ex-president Leonid Kuchma also fell in love with this place, after which, in 2010, his former business manager Igor Bakai bought the hotel through offshore companies. In 2013, Bakai went bankrupt, and the historic hotel was bought from him by Kazakh businessman Yakov Tskhai, the owner of a number of oil companies and a minority business partner of Dinara and Timur Kulibayev, in particular in the field of commercial real estate. Soon the German castle was handed over to the family of the Kazakh president.

But the most interesting thing is that none of the Nazarbayevs has ever appeared at real estate in Baden-Baden. The local mayor's office believes that "the family has prepared for themselves an alternate airfield in case of a revolution in their homeland".

Opposition calls for asset freeze

The commune of Asnières is home to wealthy Swiss, diplomats and runaway bankers from all over the world. Somewhere here, at 399 Route D'Hermance, there is a three-level mansion with an area of 3,200 square meters. meters with a 25-meter butterfly-shaped staircase. Outdoor pool, spa, guest rooms, terraces. This is one of the most expensive houses in the area.

The owners, according to Swiss data, Dinara and Timur Kulibayev are among the richest people in Kazakhstan. They bought this villa in 2009 for $75 million.

By the way, the married couple is not the only one among the close and distant relatives of Nursultan Nazarbayev who owns luxury real estate in the West.

Over the past two decades, family members have acquired hundreds of millions of dollars of luxurious homes in Europe and the United States, owning luxury properties on the lakesides and among the skyscrapers of Manhattan, in the London suburbs and the Costa Brava resort in Spain.

This data, collected by journalists from Radio Azattyk, is not exhaustive information about foreign property belonging to the relatives of the former president of Kazakhstan. One thing is clear: all these acquisitions were made possible thanks to the huge capital of family members, which they formed by owning assets in the energy, oil, banking and other sectors of the country's economy and holding government positions.

RFE/RL has set up some $1bn worth of real estate in six countries, purchased over a 20-year period by members of the Nazarbayev family and in-laws. These figures include several properties, including millions of dollars worth of US apartments purchased by Nazarbayev's brother Bolat.

According to Kazakh political scientist Dosym Satpayev, the ex-president and his family, with their wealth, personify social injustice, which became one of the main reasons for the January mass protests in the country, which turned into riots and led to hundreds of victims.

Opposition politicians, who partly live in Europe, fearing reprisals in Kazakhstan, have been seeking the seizure of accounts and property controlled by the Nazarbayev family in the West for years.

“We demand that, first of all, sanctions be imposed on members of the Nazarbayev family and his inner circle for human rights violations and corruption, and their assets should be frozen”, - Akezhan Kazhegeldin, a well-known opposition figure living in London, told DW.

However, in Kazakhstan itself, they do not seem to believe that the former “father of the nation” is ready to ask for forgiveness from the people and return the stolen billions to the state.

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