Disputes are intensifying in Kazakhstan around the activities of LLP «ATS Mediafon KZ», which has been granted the exclusive right to verify all mobile devices imported into the country. Since spring, nearly 15 million gadgets have passed through the company, with revenue from IMEI registration amounting to about 60 billion tenge.
According to the Telegram channel «Access to the Sea», the company, founded just two years ago, has become one of the largest in the country by revenue volume. Amid a lack of transparency and numerous questions about personal data protection, increasing attention is being drawn to the links between the firm's beneficiaries and well-known business groups and political figures.
Over the summer, a number of deputies raised concerns about the opaque scheme of interaction between «ATS Mediafon KZ» and state bodies, and highlighted that the company is essentially amassing vast amounts of important information: from device data to citizens' digital signatures.
According to the parliamentarians, a structure collecting such data should have a clear infrastructure, an open list of founders, technical contractors, and protection mechanisms.
However, the company does not even have an official website with basic information about its activities. Moreover, according to the Whois service, the domain of the device verification platform is registered on servers in the USA and Canada.
"This may have been done to increase the security of the platform itself against potential attacks. But the fact that the site uses third-party Help Desk software for feedback does not support the idea that the company prioritises personal data protection," the message states.
It has become known that the key administrator of the site is a native of Kazakhstan with Russian citizenship, Vladimir Akhmetyaliev. He previously worked as a lawyer at the Stepnogorsk Mining and Chemical Combine, which during that period was controlled by Yakov Klebanov — the son of entrepreneur Alexander Klebanov, long associated with the family of Nursultan Nazarbayev. In 2023, the asset was sold to the state corporation Rosatom.
The ultimate ownership structure of «ATS Mediafon KZ» also raises interest. Its final beneficiary is Vladislav Safarov. The media linked him to Talpat Uteubayev — a former police officer and deputy of the Karaganda Regional Maslikhat. The formal basis for such versions was their joint ownership of LLP «Eurasian Industrial Tobacco Group». However, journalists found that their connection runs much deeper: Safarov is married to Uteubayev's eldest daughter, Ainur.
Uteubayev himself is a well-known entrepreneur in the region. For many years, he was the director and co-owner of «Eurasian Industrial Chemical Group», which in the 1990s acquired the assets of the Karaganda Rubber Products Plant. Among the company's founders were former heads of the KNB and Ministry of Internal Affairs, Bulat Baekenov (who died in 2023) and a structure of Bolat Nazarbayev — LLP «Financial and Industrial Holding «BN – INVEST». This stake was later transferred to Bolat's confidant, Marat Nazarbayev.
Safarov's wife, Ainur Uteubayeva, and her activities are of particular interest. Her Centre for Professional and Personal Development «AYU» organises performances across the country by Igor Kim, who is presented as a psychologist.
According to available information, he tells the audience about «contactless energetic orgasm» and «forgiveness of money». How this line of work relates to the activities of «ATS Mediafon KZ» and why state bodies entrusted the collection of personal data to a structure with such associations remains unknown.