The Week in Kazakhstan: Loud Silence

Railway IPO postponed, auditors point to budget inefficiencies

The National Security Committee (KNB) issued on May 22 an arrest warrant against Frank Monstrey, a Belgian businessman. The KNB opened an investigation two days before in Astana, without disclosing the nature of the case. Between 2004 and 2017, Monstrey held a stake and a managerial position in Zhaikmunai, an oil company operating in the north-west of the country, later renamed Nostrum Oil & Gas. An OCCRP investigation in 2018 revealed that companies tied to him were the source of around $440 million, which was subsequently invested in real estate and businesses in the United States.

The Supreme Audit Chamber reported several budgetary shortcomings on May 21. According to the Chamber, in 2025 budget revenues fell short of the target by 335.3 billion tenge ($700 million), due, in part, to an “overly optimistic forecast of tax revenues.” The Chamber also criticized the inefficient use of budget funds last year, noting an increased inefficiency compared to 2024.

Askarbek Yertayev, the minister of labor, said on May 18 that it will only allow pension savings withdrawals up to around 20% of the total accumulated sum in the coming weeks. The government is curtailing the withdrawal of pension contributions, according to age groups.

On May 19, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed into law the bill that allows the killing of stray or abandoned animals that go unclaimed for more than five days. The bill, which does away with the earlier capture-vaccination-sterilization-release policy, had been harshly criticized upon its adoption in parliament.

Nurlan Sauranbayev, the minister of transport, said on May 19 that unfavorable market conditions led the government to postpone the planned IPO of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway company. Just weeks before, the government had announced preparations for an upcoming sale of shares.

The dispute resolution court at the Astana International Financial Center ruled on May 20 in favor of Ukraine’s Naftogaz, allowing the company to pursue a $1.4 billion arbitration award against Kazakhstan-based assets owned by Russia’s Gazprom. [Read more here.]

A joint investigation by Vlast and Belgium’s RTBF unveiled a network of a fake investment scam across Europe. The investigation, published on May 20, showed that the websites used to lure residents of Belgium, Germany, and other countries to invest across fake platforms were built by a Kazakhstani designer. [Read the full investigation here.]

The local websites of RFE/RL were blocked for days after the media published an investigation that tied Tokayev’s relatives to a construction company on May 18. On May 22, journalist Botagoz Omarova, who had made an investigation about the same company several months ago and was put under house arrest for spreading false information, apologized for her story and deleted it from her Telegram channel. After the apology was published, Omarova’s lawyer told Vlast that her criminal case was closed.

A court in Almaty sentenced anticorruption activist and public figure Orazaly Yerzhanov to four years of “restricted freedom” (a form of non-custodial sentence). Yerzhanov will also be banned for five years from engaging in public, political, and journalistic activities. He had been detained in February for obstructing the electoral process ahead of the constitutional referendum.

A court in Almaty ordered on May 21 that Father Iakov Vorontsov be transferred to a psychiatric facility. He was arrested on suspicion of drug possession in February. Father Iakov had split from the Russian Orthodox Church after voicing his opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine over the past four years. [Read more here.]

Croatian authorities have not yet sent a request for the extradition of former head of the Ski Federation Vedran Pavlek, Kazakhstan’s General Prosecutor’s Office told Vlast on May 20. On May 5, Pavlek was detained in Almaty. He is accused in his home country of embezzling around €30 million.

Kyrgyz authorities detained on May 19 Steve Swerdlow, a professor of the University of Southern California, upon his arrival at Manas International Airport in Bishkek. Swerdlow was on an educational trip with his students. He had been an officer for Human Rights Watch for years. Kyrgyzstan’s denial of entry for Swerdlow was harshly criticized by human rights organizations.

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