The former head of the National Security Committee, Karim Masimov, is in excellent health. It seems that he knew that he would spend a significant part of his life in prison, so he was actively involved in sports.
At the same time, Masimov’s sporting interests are extremely diverse. For example, one day he became interested in rock climbing and even climbed the Okzhetpes rock in Kokshetau. Maybe he was preparing for future escapes?
But his love for running did not help him escape from his 18-year sentence, although Masimov loved to run. I even ran half marathons, showing very good times for a person of my age. And he even recorded motivational videos encouraging Kazakhstanis to start their mornings with a jog.
You will be surprised, but running and rock climbing are only a small part of Masimov’s sporting interests. He was actively involved in Thai boxing, alpine and cross-country skiing, and golf. He loved cycling – and was even fined for violating traffic rules while driving a bicycle on the highway.
The ex-official was no stranger to cultural hobbies: he was a regular at theaters and concert halls, and was interested in Chinese and Japanese poetry.
He was also a collector, collecting weapons, unique gadgets, and rare things. And he was very surprised by the collection of antique rarities of the investigators searching Masimov’s house after his arrest on charges of treason. They found many ancient manuscripts, prayers, books, and a unique leather-bound edition of the Koran in Arabic. But the pride of Masimov’s collection were Napoleon’s letters, for which he paid almost 100 thousand euros.
But as it turned out, most of all Karim Masimov loved to collect money – only seven suitcases of cash dollars were seized from his house.
Now he is collecting sentences; two more will be added to the main 18-year sentence – for receiving a large bribe, as well as laundering illegally obtained money and property.