Last week Chinese owned Alibaba.com ran a story about Kazakhstan’s government shifting some positions in the nuclear industry of the country. Namely,that Vladimir Shkolnik, former Industry and Trade Minister, would be moving into the position as head of Kazatomprom, following confirmation by Nazarbaev. The story includes this interesting sentence:
It was unclear if Kazatomprom’s veteran boss Mukhtar Dzhakishev will get a new job in the public sector.
Indeed! What will happen to the old boss? Well, today Dzhakishev probably would love to move into the public sector, or private sector, or any sector other than prison. It’s been a rough week – first the man was sacked, and then he was arrested. (More after the jump)
On Monday, the KNB [Kazakhstan's replacement KGB] announced the arrest of Mukhtar Dzakishev, and Reuters and Alibaba have the report. The global economic crisis might be a factor, but RFE/RL suggests that it is largely politically motivated. I believe it’s a mixture of the two, as the economic crisis is pushing the political machine in directions it might have avoided up to this point. Kazakhstan’s uranium industry is growing to the point where it could become the world’s top producer. This is no small feat, considering how rarely petroleum economies successfully diversify. However, the success and growth of the uranium industry has not protected Dzakishev, who is charged with massive theft. This is being claimed as part of Nazarbaev’s general war on corruption – which if enacted categorically and in all honesty, would probably place every single industry leader, upper-level politician, and most of the extended First Family in prison. In other words, I have no doubts that Dzakishev stole what he could, but it’s arbitrary to sack the man now, and even more so to replace him with another government official.
It reminds me of the shifting of positions of area hokims in Uzbekistan, when Karimov was still consolidating power. Turn over was high and consistent, so each hokim stole as much as they could in their several year tenure, and then were moved around the country, simultaneously destroying the power base of Karimov’s underlings and bankrupting the country that used to be the most powerful in Central Asia.
Reuters cofirms:
Analysts say recent developments highlight tensions in the political circle around President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 68, who has run the country since 1989 but has no clear successor.
But the next sentence is more enigmatic to me:
Unlike some other leaders of post-Soviet state, he has not publicly picked a possible heir to his rule, heightening intrigue among potential candidates and keeping foreign investors guessing about the continuity of his policies.
Which of the post-Soviet states have picked possible heirs? I assume we’re talking about places other than Central Asia. Perhaps the reporters [Raushan Nurshayeva and Maria Golovnina] are winking at Googoosha in Uzbekistan.
This post was written by...
Michael Hancock-Parmer – author of 159 posts on Registan.net.
Michael earned an MA in Central Eurasian Studies in 2011 and remains a student at Indiana University pursuing a dual PhD in Russian History and Central Eurasian Studies. He served 6 months in the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan in 2005. After the events in Andijan and the subsequent closure of the program, he served 2 years in southern Kazakhstan, returning to the Midwest in 2007. His general area of interest is on post-Timur Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, centered on the Syr Darya river valley.
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{ 2 comments }
Dzhakishev was sitting on a ticking bomb since congresswoman Kvyatkovskaya publicly accused him in being financially benefited from selling uranium perspectives about a month or two ago. Kvyatkovskaya is a famous figure, people say she is NANs puppet, her public accusations usually precede some serious changes, once even the parliament was sacked after her publication.
Iternet rumors say Dzhakishev was close to Ablyazov or may be even close to Aliyev (but I can not confirm this). And he probably stole some money as well. Also people say that NAN has dossiers on all of his ministers, managers and political figures and he uses these files when it is time to get rid of someone.
It can not be ruled out that Russia was behind this as well, since under Dzhakishev Kazatomprom has become more and more independent and competitive, but without solid insider information one can only speculate. In the same way as Israel speculates that Russia interfered to damage Israel-Kazakhstan weapon deals, when one of high rank kazakh military officers and Israeli middleman were arrested by the Kazakh security forces.
I think it was fairly well-understood that Aliyev’s son would succeed him in Azerbaijan. No doubt Akayev had ambitions for his children, had he held on to his post.
As for the primary thrust… a political arrest? In Kazakhstan?
When nearly everyone is guilty of something, selective enforcement becomes a wonderful weapon.