The confrontation between the Public Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan’s Anti-Corruption Agency related to the case of Deputy Governor of the Almaty Region Bagdat Manzorov (who was first suspected of fraud but then cleared of all the charges) has become one of the most notable events of the past weeks. 

We are not going to relate this high-profile story, except for pointing out that the version of the events promoted by Registr TV Kazakhstan (a resource that is little known in the country) seems to be the most true-to-the-fact one. During the last days of October 2019, the resource published as many as three articles on the subject, and each of them is worthy of attention.

The first one released under a sensational title «The Millions-Worth Bribes Saved Him From Prison: Bagdat Manzorov has rescued by his protectors from the top-management of the Public Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan» offers a version of what has happened and the background story behind the events.

The second one, «The Video of Bagdat Manzorov Demanding a Bribe Is Commented on by His Lawyer», uncovers the contents of the video of Manzorov’s meeting with the entrepreneurs-bribers where they were discussing giving a land parcel as a bribe. Apart from that, the publication demonstrates the real financial standing of the Deputy Governor of the Almaty Region that is estimated to be as high as half a billion dollars.

Finally, the third article called «Akhmetzhan Esimov and Bagdat Manzorov: Friends Until a Hundreds Millions Dollars Phone Call"says that Manzorov’s miraculous save from the bullying of the Anti-Corruption Agency by the Public Prosecution Office was due to his close relationships with Akhmetzhan Esimov, the Chairman of the Management Board of National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna and Nursultan Nazarbayev’s nephew.

We believe the scandalous case of Bagdat Manzorov, once again, confirms the idea that the life in Kazakhstan is much more fantastical than a most intricate fiction. Especially since the public accusation of the Public Prosecution Office’s top-officials of bribery (two million dollars per «bro»; note that the article even says where the money transfer took place) is a big rarity in Kazakhstan.

All this makes us assume that some «very important people» are hiding behind this, undoubtedly, multi-layered conflict. With that, it doesn’t really matter whether the attempt of the Anti-Corruption Agency’s officers to put Manzorov behind bars was an honest execution of their official duties or an implementation of Manzorov’s opponents request to do harm to the other clan and/or to vacate the place in the state apparatus for their own representative.

In view of this, we are waiting impatiently for Akorda’s and «the Library’s» pubic reaction to these events. If there will be none (in other words, President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev will not openly interfere in the conflict and Security Council headed by Nursultan Nazarbayev will choose not to sort out who is right and who is not), it will become yet another confirmation of the version that Bagdat Manzorov is protected by some very serious people.

With that, it is not at all a fact that Akhmetzhan Esimov is one of them (the latter is quite cautious and usually tries not to get involved in such high-profile confrontations). Although, in theory, if his assets were registered in Manzorov’s name (which is quite feasible), this circumstance could have forced the Leader of the Nation’s nephew to become less cautious.

We are also in some doubt that the top-officials from Kazakhstan’s Public Prosecution Office would take the risk of accepting bribes from Manzorov, his relatives and allies. Let us explain why we think so.

The fact that the aforementioned resource does not give away the names of the bribe-takers is quite understandable — it is critically dangerous in Kazakhstan since one can hammer into a lawsuit and be thrown into jail for slander. With that, for some reason, the article does not mention how many of them were there — one, two, three? Instead, the authors are hinting that the head of the agency Gizat Nurdauletov was among them for only he would have the authority to send his deputy to justify the agency’s decision.

We find it doubtful but not because we believe in Nurdauletov’s incorruptibility. It’s just that we doubt that he would risk his current high post, the epaulets of a general and his successful career for the sake of an insignificant (for him) sum of 2 million dollars.

There is only one reasonable explanation for such an incautious step on the part of Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General — he had received a direct order to save Bagdat Manzorov from a person whom he could not refuse. And it could only have been the Leader of the Nation’s brother, the uncrowned «ruler» of the Almaty region Bolat Nazarbayev (see more details on the subject in our publication ).

Obviously, the scandalous case of Bagdat Manzorov and the public confrontation it had provoked between the Public Prosecution Office and the Anti-Corruption Agency are doing a serious damage to both the Kazakh authoritarian political system and the super-presidential vertical as well as Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev and Nursultan Nazarbayev personally.

Now they will try to shove this story under the rug by any means possible in the hope that, as soon as the topic leaves the pages of the Kazakh media-resources, only few will remember it. But there is no guarantee they will manage to do so.