ABOUT

The politician was born in 1965 in the city of Tselinograd of the Kazakh SSR. The question of Massimov’s ethnicity has been raised by the media on several occasions. His nationality had been the subject of much debate, as the question of ethnic origin played a big role in a coming to power in Kazakhstan. The opinion has been repeatedly expressed that the official of nationality is not a Kazakh, but an Uighur. However, the politician himself refuted such statements. He always claimed that he has Kazakh blood.

Where he studied. 

In 1982, Massimov graduated from the Physics and Mathematics School of National Importance in Almaty. Based on the publications of the mass media (the documentation was used, presumably taken from the archives of the KGB of the USSR and the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan), After graduation, he went to the KGB High School at the Technical Faculty. It is also alleged that in 1984 he decided to change his specialty and made an attempt to start  the Faculty of Counter-Intelligence, but it didn’t succeed. After that, he left the KGB school and served in the army in one of the GRU units in Moscow.  However, other evidence suggests that Massimov’s expulsion was imaginary, and in this way the cadet of the KGB school was prepared for further intelligence service.

 In 1985, Massimov became a student at the Faculty of Economics and Law at the Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University, where he became fluent in English and Arabic. 

The biography of Karim Massimov is connected with China.  Information was published many times that in 1987 he received a diploma from the KGB school, and the next year he was sent to China under the inter-institutional exchange program.

In China in 1989, the future statesman entered the Institute of Culture and Languages ​​in Beijing, where he studied Chinese.  He also studied international law at Wuhan University.  The study continued until 1991.

Career.

In 1991, Massimov acted as legal adviser to the USSR trade mission in China.  Upon his return to his homeland in 1991, he headed the foreign relations department of the Ministry of Labor.

 Since 1992, the official has held the position of deputy director of the Kazakhprigrantorg company, in 1992-1993.

In 1993, he was appointed Director for Foreign Economic Activity of Akcept LLP.  It was engaged in the supply of Chinese consumer goods to Kazakhstan.  In 1994, Massimov became the director of a Hong Kong trading house that represented Kazakh goods in the Asian market.  Some evidence suggests that Bulat Utemuratov, future assistant to President Nazarbayev and Secretary of the Security Council, was his right hand at that time. 

Since 1995, Massimov has been working in the banking sector.  From 1995 to 1997, he was the manager of ATF-Bank, the founders of which were the owner of Akcept, Nurlan Kapparov, Timur Kulibayev and Bulat Utemuratov, who at that time was the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Kazakhstan.

 Since 1997, Masimov was the chairman of the board of Turanbank, from 1997 to 2000 he was the chairman of the board of the People’s Savings Bank.

 In 1999, Massimov took over as chairman of CJSC “National investment financial joint-stock company NSBK-group”

Massimov remained in the post of Deputy Prime Minister under the newly appointed head of government, Imangali Tasmagambetov, who took up his office in January 2002.  A year later, Massimov became an assistant to the President of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev, on foreign policy issues.  In January 2006, after the resignation of Danial Akhmetov, he took the post of Deputy Prime Minister.  In parallel with this, Massimov served as the Minister of Economy.

 In 2007, Massimov was appointed by Nazarbayev to the post of Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.  In the media, such an appointment was regarded as an attempt to strengthen Kulibayev’s position.  A number of analysts, recalling Massimov’s long-standing ties with China, assumed that the position he held would give him the opportunity to support China’s economic interests.  In this regard, in the media, the nickname “Chinese” was used more than once in relation to Massimov.

Cooperation with China.

The Kazakh press has repeatedly accused Massimov of lobbying certain financial groups, as well as the interests of the PRC.  The reason for the accusation was major scandals in connection with the project of China growing soybeans and rapeseed in Kazakhstan and lending to government projects through the Chinese Eximbank.

 The media noted that the biography of Karim Massimov is closely connected with China.  The official has rich experience in the field of cooperation with Asian countries, and some opponents hinted at his personal interests in business, as well as the acquisition of expensive real estate in Singapore.  But these allegations were not documented.

Masimov’s family.

Karim Masimov (biography, family, wife) was often discussed in the press and on television.  He is married and is the father of three children.  His wife is Dilyara Massimova.  What was written and said about such an official as Karim Massimov?  The family, judging by the press and television, purchased property in Singapore in 2008.  Its cost is 7.5 million dollars.  The daughter of an official, Tamila, also studied in Singapore.