Akezhan Kazhegeldin’s Use of Offshore Companies and Tax Havens
Anti-kleptocracy campaigner Akezhan Kazhegeldin (aka Akejan Kajegeldin or Ake-Jean Qajygeldin) has criticised the use of sophisticated offshore corporate structures by oligarchs to hide their wealth. But Kazhegeldin and his family have for decades used similar schemes to buy property and other assets.
Kazhegeldin, the former prime minister of Kazakhstan, has used companies and trusts in some of the most opaque jurisdictions in the world, including the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Liechtenstein and Switzerland. This might seem like odd behaviour for a noted anti-corruption campaigner!
Kazhegeldin’s network is displayed on the following chart:
New Zealand
· Kazhegeldin’s wife Natalya is the beneficiary of The Venezuelan Trust, a New Zealand-registered trust which indirectly owned the family’s property at 25 Wilton Street , London.
· Kazhegeldin’s daughter Diana is thought to have bought Flat 16, 42 Egerton Gardens in London via a company called Ledbury Park, which is owned through various New Zealand trusts.
Liechtenstein
· Kazhegeldin reportedly controlled the San Celestino Foundation trust in Lichtenstein, which he allegedly used to receive bribes as part of the Kazakhgate scandal in 1997.
· The Panama Papers show that San Celestino was the sole shareholder of PIO V Ltd, a BVI company incorporated 15 July 1997.
Belgium/Netherlands/Curacao
· A Belgian anti-corruption investigation found that Kazhegeldin’s wife Natalya was the owner of an offshore company in Curacao. This entity held a further holding company in the Netherlands and two property trading companies in Belgium.
· In 1996 these companies acquired a range of property in Belgium, including a house worth $2 million, plot of land worth $700,000 and a large villa worth $2 million.
· These purchases were reportedly financed primarily from a bank account in Switzerland.
Switzerland
· Kazakhstan 21 st Century Foundation, a not-for-profit company established by Kazhegeldin in Delaware in 1998, had a fiduciary trust in Switzerland called Stiftung Kazakhstan 21 Jahrhundert with an accompanying bank account.
· During the Kazakhgate investigation, Swiss prosecutors found that Kazhegeldin was an account holder with Credit Agricole Indosuez, for the BVI company Eurasian Intervest Ltd.
· Kazhegeldin reportedly confirmed that he opened his first Swiss bank account in Lugano in 1996 and received the money.
BVI
Kazhegeldin and his family have been linked to the following BVI-incorporated companies:
· Eurasia Intervest Ltd, incorporated 27 October 1994 and struck off 30 April 1998. [1] Swiss prosecutors reportedly determined that this company held a bank account with Credit Agricole Indosuez. [2]
· Faromir Ltd, which has reportedly provided funding to IEIEPR. [3]
· Eurointer Ltd, which was given by Kazhegeldin’s close associate Rinat Akhmetshin as his address in 1998 when registering the news site Eurasia-Internet. [4]
· PIO V Ltd, incorporated 15 July 1997 and struck off 30 April 2016. This was a subsidiary of the San Celestino Foundation , which Kazhegeldin controlled.
· Zarek Investments Ltd, incorporated 20 August 2003, [5] which was used by the family to hold their property at 25 Wilton Street in London on behalf of The Venezuelan Trust.
[1] https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/10196895
[2] https://nomad.su/?a=13-200211120020
[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20031125144747/http://www.kazhegeldin.com/article.htm#6
[4] https://web.archive.org/web/20031125144747/http://www.kazhegeldin.com/article.htm#6