The suspense surrounding former Head of the Special Prosecutors Service at Kazakhstan’s Public Prosecution Office Olesya Keksel is growing. However, regardless of whether she ends up at the defenders’ bench or gets a slip on the wrist, we believe these developments are related to the conflict among the elite groups; the conflict that, in its turn, is unfolding against the background of much more important internal political processes happening inside the circles of Nursultan Nazarbayev and Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev.
Let us confirm our idea via the example of former Vice Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Gani Sadibekov. In March 2018, he was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Agency’s officers. At the moment, however, he is not simply at his liberty; on November 13, 2019, he gave quite an interesting interview to newspaper Vremya titled «Gani Sadibekov: The Corruption Fighters Are Unable to Admit Their Mistakes».
The interview lead explains the essence of the matter.
«More than a year and a half ago, in March 2018, the Anti-Corruption Agency proudly reported on catching yet another big-time bribe-taker, Vice Minister of Energy Gani SADIBEKOV. As it is customary in such cases, the Kazakh citizens were shown a video of the criminal’s arrest as well as a huge number of the appropriated banknotes. As Nurlan ZHAKHIN who, at the time, served as the Anti-Corruption Agency’s official representative stated for all to hear, Vice Minister Sadibekov had colluded with the management of the subcontractor in order to steal the money allocated for the cleaning of the lake at the Schuchinsko-Borovskaya resort».
And then, the newspaper presents Sadisbekov’s own explanations (text in bold by kz.expert).
«I do not think that the 2000 $ recovered from my house is an amount that testifies to the stolen billions. I know that the search for the money was meticulous. They searched my house in the capital, my apartment in Almaty where my wife staying was when it happened. They even searched my brother-entrepreneur’s home and office from where they took 30 $ thousand (set aside by my brother to pay wages to his employees) but then they returned the money.
— Then, where did the they find the billion?
— I don’t know, definitely, not at my place».
«…I was kept in detention for 15 days, then the attorneys managed to change the level of restriction to house arrest. The following year and a half I spent in the company of security guards. I was allowed to go outside only to be interrogated. I was forbidden to talk on the phone, interact with my relatives and children. I couldn’t even call my sick parents».
«And there is a great deal of such violations on the part of the prosecution. Over the duration of the investigation, the examining court had issued about ten rulings that confirm the incompleteness and illegality of the investigation and obligate to conduct additional investigative measures. The Public Prosecution Office, too, returned the case to the Anti-Corruption Agency for an additional investigation. As a result, I had been a suspect for 20 months and the investigation was still unable to prove my guilt».
«The case includes hundreds of hours of conversations recorded when they were conducting covert investigation procedures (CIP). I had been listening to them for eight months when we were allowed to familiarize ourselves with the criminal case materials (…) With that, the CIP contain no conversations where we would discuss the means of stealing of dividing the money».
«What does the Public Prosecution Office say regarding your criminal case? Did you try and complain to them?
— You know, prior to March 2108, I was certain that the Public Prosecution Office is there to monitor the due process of law but now I can say unequivocally: in our case, it is entirely on the side of the investigation. We are spending a lot of time in the examining court but there hasn’t been a case when the prosecutor supported the defender’s request. Whenever the court asks the prosecutor’s opinion, he us always against us».
Judging by how freely Gani Sadibekov was interacting with the journalists, he has been freed from house arrest, otherwise, he would have been taken back to the detention center for such a severe regime violation. And this fact speaks volumes. Particularly, that, despite the complaints against the investigation, the former (or perhaps not yet former) Vice Minister of Energy is feeling quite confident and hoping that his problems will end in the near future.
Moreover, we even allow for the possibility that he will return to his post at the agency, otherwise, why does the latter have not one but two empty Vice Minister’s chairs?
In the meantime, according to our insiders, the case of Gani Sadibekov does not look as unfounded as he is trying to paint in his interview. And a billion tenge in cash really did exist. But now it is not as crucially important since his benefactors have, de-facto, been able to defend him. And this, in our opinion, is quite remarkable since it shows that the Anti-Corruption Agency and its head Alik Shpekbayev are suffering a clear defeat in the confrontation with their opponents.
The extra-scandalous case of Deputy Governor of the Almaty Region Bagdat Manzorov was the first among these big defeats; Gani Sadibekov’s case is the second.
What is indicative: it looks like, in both cases, Bolat Nazarbayev, the First President’s brother, was the behind-the-scenes opponent of the Kazakh law-enforcers. At least, our sources state is quite certainly.
According to our insiders, Gani Sadibekov’s brother, entrepreneur Galym Sadibekov served as the key figure — intermediary — in this matter. The thing is that he is quite close to another local entrepreneur Edgar Salduzi known across the country for his conflict with Mayra Kurmangaliyeva, the most notorious one among Bolat Nazarbayev’s wives.
In particular, it was Gani Sadibekov who once bought restaurant Sarbaz from the Leader of the Nation’s brother and then sold it to Nurbol Nazarbayev, Bolat Nazarbayev’s son. Currently, Edgar Salduzi represents the interests of the latter in the garbage-disposal business in Almaty and the Almaty region; the business that the First President’s brother controls almost singlehandedly.
So, according to our sources, it was Bolat Nazarbayev’s interference as well as the secret support of Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev whose two deputies were previously detained by the Anti-Corruption Agency that helped Gani Sadibekov first to get away from the pre-trial detention center and be placed under house arrest and then successfully clear himself off the accusations against him.
With that, his diatribe addressed to the Public Prosecution Office looks, in our opinion, too artificial to be truthful.
Apart from these two Kazakhstan’s rather influential people, they say that Gani Sadibekov was also supported by Secretary of Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kalmukhanbet Kasymov. It is not a secret that the General-Colonel of the police is in conflict with his former deputy at the Ministry of Interior, therefore, Shpekbayev’s defeat in such high-profile cases is in his interests. Especially since, in Akorda and «the Library», there are talks that the Leader of the Nation is planning to conduct some serious reshuffles in the state apparatus that, together with others, will affect the top officials of the law-enforcement structures.
