How the money was hidden in Switzerland - 1
Press investigation news. Nurlan Balgimbayev threatens Giffen and Shevron company

Sagyndyk MENDYBAYEV, Nikolai FOMIN, Victor SHELGUNOV

Recent investigation of foreign accounts that belong to the high-ranking Kazakh officials is just a natural continuation of the old story. The irony is that Swiss investigation has been triggered by Kazakh authorities themselves. In summer 1999, in a hectic desire "to bury" Kazhegeldin they forwarded to the General Prosecutor's Office in Geneva a request to examine his secret accounts, and found themselves in the role of a person who punished himself instead.

It is curious enough that the long consultations, including those with Swiss financial specialists preceded the ridiculous events. The question was as follows: was it possible to probe Kazhegeldin's accounts without touching the "Father"? The Swiss were polite but point-blank: do not try to blow up a garbage heap - everyone, including the president will be in it.

Nevertheless the wise aides and tender family members convinced Nazarbayev that his reputation will remain "intact", while his challenger's reputation would be ruined forever. The General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan asked Swiss colleagues to check Kazhegeldin's foreign accounts. Geneva understood the request in its own way. Swiss investigators care about the triumph of law, not about the triumph of Nazarbayev over Kazhegeldin. They did not want to become a man in someone's else game, a tool for settling old scores of the political rivals. So Geneva decided to more closely look at all the doubtful Kazakh accounts.

The genie was let off from the bottle. The first steps of investigators resulted in freezing several accounts of the Kazakh top officials. The papers were dominated by the news of Nazarbayev's secret foreign assets. Tens millions of dollars passed through those accounts, and the money was transferred from the accounts of the government of Kazakhstan to the accounts of bogus individuals. In this circumstances the president found nothing better but to deny everything: Nazarbayev, it turned out, had never had any accounts in foreign banks.

What is most interesting is that the president is formally right. Most likely, there are no bank accounts open in his name abroad. It means a great risk for him to have such an account. The accounts controlled by the president were opened in other names - in the names of people close to him. For a long time Sazdyk Abishev had been the main treasurer of the Family's foreign assets. Among others involved in this delicate matter were Nurlan Balgimbayev, Nurtai Abykayev, and Bulat Utermuratov. Another agent is Nazarbayev's adviser James Giffen. It is for this reason that his name is now in the center of a new scandal.

Let's remind that we wrote about this important person in the book "The Nazarbayev Family: Sources of the Wealth" (an abridged quotation):

Today, like in the Oblonskys' house, everything is in confusion in the Kazakh management. The people have exchanged either their masks or their roles. Experts puzzle over why Nurlan Balgimbayev, the former trainee of Shevron Co., all of a sudden began to sharply criticize the activity of his favorite American company in Kazakhstan. In the context of recent rows one can come to the conclusion that his demonstrative tough approach and threats are a sort of a warning for Shevron managers meaning how they should behave in the investigation in Washington. Rumors about the payoffs made in 1993 by Shevron representatives to Nazarbayev and his closest allies to secure Tengiz have lasted very long. Sometimes such relations are mildly put as "informal". The contract with Shevron is known to have bitter opponents, who suddenly turned into its supporters. The especially warm relations between Nazarbayev and this company is well known too. The president not but once personally assisted the company in solving problems connected with tariffs, taxes, and ecological standards.

Mobil is currently fully cooperating with the FBI in its investigation, Newsweek said. If Shevron becomes another ally of the investigators, the information that will come up could make Nazarbayev urgently refer to the law on the first president. Yet another question arises: will Shevron find it of use today to tell the truth, could it mean serious charges for the managers of the company?

Balgimbayev risks nothing when criticizing Shevron. He gets scores among those who have considered him an uncomplaining protege of the foreign capital. At the same time he signals the big and influential American investor: we are greatly dissatisfied with you. What are the reasons for such dissatisfaction? Balgimbayev speaks about Shevron's debt amounting to 1 billion dollars, about unfair distribution of the profit and ignoring the interests of the republic in purchase of equipment and hiring contractors. Perhaps these steps of Shevron really were the last straw for Nurlan Balgimbayev. But Shevron was not an angel from the very beginning. So the recent changes are largely politically motivated.

The pressure on Shevron and Giffen is seen as a threat to change the previously loyal attitude to the Americans if they get afraid of the investigation in Geneva and Washington and would like "to surrender" the Kazakh principals. The one who will say too much will lose his positions in the Kazakh oil business. The government of Kazakhstan has enough grounds to accuse Shevron of the failure to fulfill the investment obligations and of concealing a part of profit. And they will end up as the notorious Trans World Group. The noise will be loud enough but Kazakh authorities are ready to go through it. If offended Shevron is pushed from Kazakh projects, its place will be occupied by another company. Including Russian.

The second motive aired by annoyed Balgimbayev is of more general character. The purpose is to use Shevron which has an influential lobby in the US government in the attempt to put pressure on the US administration, which Nazarbayev believes to have unleashed an "information war against Kazakhstan". Washington is actually fighting against corruption and arbitrariness of Nazarbayev himself, but for a long time the president have been identifying his own person with the state he controls. Criticism of Shevron signals his discontent with the position of the West. What Nazarbayev means is: Dear sirs, I have been sweet with you for a long time, so you have to pay me back with the same coin and stop this flow of criticism in the western press and from the US officials.

It's difficult to say whether Shevron understands such hints or not. It's difficult to evaluate the degree of real political influence of the major petroleum company that has found itself plunged into tough political struggle.