Author: km

During his long, successful career—before receiving time for treason—ex-intelligence officer, ex-banker, ex-prime minister and ex-head of the National Security Committee, Karim Masimov, saved enough for a rainy day.

Masimov was not shy – there are documented facts of his openly receiving real estate, expensive gifts, including cultural property, and significant funds from representatives of the domestic and foreign business community.

After his arrest, cash was taken out of the house in suitcases, tens of millions of dollars were seized from numerous accounts, investigators also got to some of Masimov’s secret “stashes” abroad and are gradually returning funds from there to the state.

Among Masimov’s seized property are 11 expensive business-class cars, luxury apartments and mansions in Nur-Sultan and Almaty, a 1-hectare land plot on the shore of a lake in the Shchuchinsko-Borovsk resort area, dozens of luxury watches, mountains of gold bars, and unique antiques.

But while it was easy to confiscate Kazakh houses and apartments, investigators are not doing so well with foreign real estate. Karim Masimov skillfully hid real estate around the world with the help of relatives.

In the UAE, he was helped by his son, Iskander Masimov, who legalized his father’s real estate and other assets after his arrest through the Mubadala Foundation. And if we move to the distant shores of America, what will we find there? Even a small investigation of state real estate records turned up about two dozen properties in three warm states. Through his wife Mashurov’s brother, Dilshata, Masimov is a modest owner of luxury houses in prestigious areas of Arizona, California, and San Diego. There was a place for a family to stay away from their native Republic: you want a four-level apartment with an area of more than 942 square feet with 2 bedrooms and a pool in Los Angeles, or choose a mansion with an area of 2,376 square feet in Lincoln, or you can even in a residential area of ​​Phoenix, Arizona , where there is a one-story, but also cozy, mansion of more than two thousand square meters and a swimming pool in the courtyard.

Masimov’s wife and children live in Singapore, where they have another hidden mansion worth 7.5 million dollars. For Karim Masimov himself, the state provided a roof over his head and dietary food for at least 18 years.

The all-powerful head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, Karim Masimov, in bloody January 2022, made the main mistake of his life – he believed that it was he who determined the future of the country.

Before the start of the January events, enormous power and a lot of money were concentrated in his hands; it seemed that the KNB controlled all the processes taking place in the state, while Karim Masimov himself ensured a fairly calm transit of power from Nazarbayev to Tokayev, which they both appreciated.

All the more unexpected were the protests that broke out in Kazakhstan on January 2 amid a sharp increase in gas prices. Every day the unrest intensified, the first deaths appeared, protesters began to seize government buildings, military warehouses, looting and robberies began.

The KNB in every possible way avoided decisive action, its employees abandoned strategic objects, and Karim Masimov himself spoke out sharply against seeking foreign assistance, which Tokayev insisted on.
Masimov’s sabotage led to the situation on the streets becoming more and more tense, and as a result, the president’s patience ran out – he removed the head of the National Security Committee from office, he was accused of treason and arrested.

After getting rid of the “help” of Masimov, Tokayev managed to restore order with an iron fist – he dismissed the government, gave the order to shoot at the militants without warning and turned to the CSTO for help.
Masimov’s case was classified from the very beginning, but the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan, Berik Asylov, immediately stated that Karim Masimov became one of the main organizers of the January riots. Apparently, Masimov wanted to discredit President Tokayev and initiate a change of power. It is not known what post the conspirator himself wanted to apply for after the coup, but it is significant that his long-term patron Nursultan Nazarbayev also turned away from him, calling Masimov Judas.
The sentence handed down to Masimov was 18 years in prison, confiscation of property, and a ban on holding positions in the public service for life.

The former head of the National Security Committee was accompanied in the dock by his former deputies: Anuar Sadykulov, Daulet Ergozhin and Marat Osipov. All of them received prison sentences, lost their general’s shoulder straps and state awards, and had serious amounts of money confiscated.

But that’s not the end of the story. In November 2023, Karim Masimov became a defendant in two new criminal cases. According to the press service of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, he is suspected of receiving a large bribe, as well as laundering illegally obtained money and property.

Ex-Prime Minister and former head of the National Security Committee Karim Masimov, serving an 18-year term, was quite good at converting his status into hard cash, including at the international level.

Perhaps the first accusations of selfish use of his political weight were major scandals in connection with China’s project to grow soybeans and rapeseed in Kazakhstan and lending to government projects through the Chinese Eximbank.

Some opponents and journalists, even before the arrest and charges brought, drew attention to how closely China is woven into the biography of a high-ranking Kazakh citizen. And Karim Masismov’s experience of successful cooperation with foreign companies and countries was called rich, including in a sarcastic sense. China was China, but Masimov did not limit himself to it; his horizons were clearly much wider. Here is just one example of fruitful cooperation for him.

Since 2008, Prime Minister Massimov has met several times with the CEO of the telecommunications company Telia Company, Lars Nyberg. It seems that there is nothing special, because Karim Masimov did not hide the fact that he was involved in attracting investment to the country. However, further facts indicate that Telia representatives also invested in him personally.

It is documented that in 2009, in the interests of this company, the prime minister asked to provide it with the necessary 3G frequency band by contacting the government agencies responsible for this. While continuing to supervise the issue of obtaining a GSM Kazakhstan license, by his order the current legislation suddenly changed. In particular, at his request, payments required for license holders were reduced several times. Instead of 2.8 billion tenge (approximately $8.2 million) per year to 500 million tenge (1.4 million dollars). In November 2010, these amendments were signed by Nursultan Nazarbayev. And a source from his administration claims that such beneficial and timely changes for Telia would not have been possible without Masimov’s help and interest.

Around the same time, Telia acquired the dormant AR-Telecom LLP and KT-Telecom LLP, paying about $25 million for their WiMAX licenses. But later it’s more interesting and louder. In 2012, Telia, through a Dutch subsidiary, bought the remaining 49% of GSM Kazakhstan at a price significantly higher than the real one – for a fantastic $1.5 billion. Due to a quarrel between another key figure in those schemes and Nazarbayev, negotiations since 2011 were completed by Masimov. A former Telia executive later said that this was the first significant kickback that Telia paid to Kulibayev and Masimov.

And there are dozens, if not hundreds, of such episodes in Karim Masimov’s career. And although law enforcement agencies have begun to gradually unravel this tangle, they will have enough work to do for years. On the other hand, Masimov is in no hurry; the articles imputed to him do not provide for early release.