There is a lot of blog-buzz over the allegation by the KNB that former (arrested) head of KazAtomProm Mukhtar Dzhakishev stole half of Kazakhstan’s uranium rights.
Given the allegations of political malfeasance behind Dzhakishev’s arrest, it’s probably a bad idea to take the KNB’s word on this one.
Authorities did not explain how Dzhakishev managed to steal more than half of the country’s uranium deposits out from under the government’s nose. All uranium deals in Kazakhstan are heavily monitored and audited by the state.
Exactly. $20 says Dzakhishev ran afoul of one of Nazarbayev’s moods, and is paying the price for it.
This post was written by...
Joshua Foust – author of 1801 posts on Registan.net.
Joshua Foust is a Fellow at the American Security Project and the author of Afghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net. His research focuses primarily on Central and South Asia. Joshua is a correspondent for The Atlantic and a columnist for PBS Need to Know. Joshua appears regularly on the BBC World News, Aljazeera, and international public radio. Joshua is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, and the Christian Science Monitor. Follow him on twitter: @joshuafoust
For information on reproducing this article, see our Terms of Use
{ 1 comment }
That is actually not true that authorities did not explain how he stole money. There have been a KNB press conference where they described how it was done. According to KNB Dzhakishev was selling uranium deposits rights to offshore companies that he created himself for very low prices. I do not remember exactly but they say he sold a big share (30%) of one of the very rich deposits to his own company for $100K. They he made schemes with credits.
They say that his two vice-presidents are not arrested but are under the witness protection program.
Allegedly he has done it together with Ablyazov.