The Anti-Corruption Agency reported the detention of a certain former Minister of Justice on suspicion of lobbying for the interests of an affiliated company by concluding annual contracts for the provision of knowingly unnecessary services, which caused particularly large-scale damage to the state. And although the identity of the former minister has not been disclosed, it is obvious that we are talking about Marat Beketayev. The editorial team of FBRK decided to provide a detailed reminder of the life and work of the former head of the Ministry of Justice.
In January 2022, amid protests in Kazakhstan, President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed the government of Askar Mamin. One of the members of the previous government of the Republic of Kazakhstan who lost their post was Marat Beketayev. However, unlike his colleagues in misfortune, the former Minister of Justice found a new job immediately – within 10 days, Beketayev was appointed advisor to the new Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.
Marat Beketayev even wrote a farewell post on social media about the successes and achievements of the department during his tenure, which could not but provoke a reaction from the numerous media outlets that had for many years publicised the 'heroic' exploits of the former minister. Before recalling the turbulent biography of the former head of the Ministry of Justice, let's talk a little about his relatives.
CLOSE RELATIVES OF MARAT BEKETAYEV
It is no secret that Marat Beketayev's brother, Ruslan Beketayev, previously held the positions of Chairman of the Treasury Committee, Vice-Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Minister of Economy and Financial Policy of the EEC. Today, he is the Chief Director for Economics and Finance of JSC "National Atomic Company "Kazatomprom".
Little is known about the late father of the Beketayevs. For a time, Bakytzhan Beketayev was the head of a prison in the village where, according to some sources, their family lived. Later, the head of the family became a colonel in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the early 2000s, Bakytzhan Beketayev was a member of the board of JSC "Kazakhstan Mortgage Company" (renamed "Kazakhstan Housing Company" in 2021) and even headed its Astana branch.
Marat Beketayev has a wife, Gulnara Beketayeva, also known as Nurpeisova, and two daughters: Alina and Malika. All members of the former minister's family, as well as his brother Ruslan Beketayev, his father-in-law Mulik Nurpeisov, and his brother-in-law Murat Nurpeisov, are affiliated persons in JSC "National Center for Personnel Management of the Civil Service".
Murat Nurpeisov, in turn, is the founder of companies such as LLP "MTSE" (Wholesale trade of other machinery and equipment) and LLP "Kazpribor Center" (Wholesale trade of a wide range of goods without any specific detail).
The maternal uncle of Marat Beketayev is known by a different surname, as Kambar Shalgimbayev. Shalgimbayev is the president and founder of the company LLP "SH Group Partners" (Raising of other cattle and buffaloes). But he is remembered for the fact that, while serving as president of JSC "Development Bank of Kazakhstan" (DBK) in 2006, he set his own salary at $100 thousand per month. His deputies then earned a bit less - only $40 thousand.
His wife, Galina Shalgimbayeva, also made headlines in many media outlets in her time: she was the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of JSC "Delta Bank", whose license was revoked in 2017, and in February 2021 her name was among the detained top managers of "Delta".
At various times, Shalgimbayeva headed structural divisions of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan for securities and the financial market, was a member of the National Securities Commission, oversaw these issues at the National Bank, and was the head of the liquidated LLP "GALATTON". Currently, she is the president of the consulting company "GALA Invest Consulting" (Consulting on commercial activities and management).
LLP "CONSULTING GROUP "BOLASHAK" AND THE STATI CASE
There are also details in the life and work of the former Minister of Justice, Marat Beketayev, which, unfortunately, have not been widely covered in the media. The FBRK editorial team has learned interesting details about the activities of the Kazakhstani law firm LLP "Consulting Group "Bolashak", which, according to information received, lobbies for partnership interests with an international private intelligence firm.
The source also revealed that "Bolashak", with which the Ministry of Justice concludes contracts for services to protect state interests in courts, in turn, receives state funding and hires international legal, investigative, and PR firms. The most key of the foreign consultants hired by Bolashak is Arcanum Global.
However, the relationship between Bolashak and Arcanum also worked in the reverse direction, the FBRK source reports. Confirmation of this was the leak of emails from Marat Beketayev's inbox into the Kazaword database. For example, in July 2012, Bolashak issued an invoice for payment to Arcanum in the amount of $49 thousand.
Since 2020, Bolashak has registered several new websites as part of dark PR efforts against Stati. The domain of one of the sites was registered to a Ministry of Justice employee – Yevgeny Alekseyev, who was also a shareholder of the company Bolashak in 2018. In addition, the published correspondence between Alekseyev and Beketayev from Kazaword points to their long-standing friendly relationship.
In November 2022, Bolashak Consulting Group launched a new corporate website, through which they promoted an expanded business proposition for interested parties, but all new foreign operations were invariably linked to the company Arcanum.
Another long-standing scandal involving Beketayev relates to the period of his work as Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Justice. From 2014 to 2015, he initiated 17 different inspections at the Centre for Forensic Examinations under the ministry and suspected colleagues of corruption. In response, the Deputy Minister and the Director of the CSE wrote a report on him addressed to the head of the Ministry of Justice, Berik Imashev. As a result, Beketayev was accused of exceeding his official authority, after which he successfully moved to the position of Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.
In the same year, 2014, there was another interesting story about how Beketayev flew to England with his family. Recalling this story after a long 7 years, the media calculated how much such a trip cost. The total expenses for the trip amounted to more than 10 thousand British pounds (1 pound in 2014 = 1.67 US dollars) ― including flights to London for 5 people, hotel accommodation, and then an apartment.
During this trip, according to correspondence obtained in Kazaword, lawyers from the London firm Reed Smith looked after Beketayev's children. This was arranged as legal services and a cheque was issued for the hourly rate for legal services.
During Marat Beketayev's years of public service, Kazakhstan repeatedly participated in international legal proceedings. Recall, for example, the conflict surrounding ENRC, in which Beketayev, as Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan, represented the government as a non-executive director.
The most prominent and prolonged international dispute for Kazakhstan was the legal battle between the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Moldovan investors Anatol and Gabriel Stati. Marat Beketayev was already the head of the department during this period. But Kazakhstanis were most concerned with the key question - how much this international conflict was costing taxpayers.
Beketayev did not give a specific answer to questions about the cost of state expenses for litigation with Stati. However, in 2021, journalists managed to calculate that the amount of direct and indirect property damage from this case was actually $337 million, that is, more than 60% of the lost claim amount of $506 million.
Interest has only grown each year; in 2022 alone, the amount tripled ― to nearly $540 million. According to the latest data, Kazakhstan's debt in the Stati case could reach over $1 billion. They will, of course, be paid from the taxes of Kazakh citizens, not from Beketayev's own pocket.
Moreover, given the expenses of the Ministry of Justice under Beketayev on commercial espionage services and services for political persecution, which were used in the Stati case, the figure could be around $500 million. For example, in 2021 alone, the Ministry of Justice was to receive 21 billion 195 million tenge from the Kazakh budget for supporting proceedings abroad - these funds were personally managed by Beketayev and his team.
It is obvious that Beketayev and his team took advantage of the fact that the country's leadership was ready to allocate colossal sums for the persecution of its enemies without any tangible prospects. This is despite the fact that the Stati family themselves stated that their criminal prosecution was fabricated by the former head of the KNB, Karim Massimov, and the oligarch Kairat Boranbayev.
If Massimov and Boranbayev admit that they gave instructions to fabricate a case against the Moldovan businessmen, it would mean that Marat Beketayev previously received direct instructions from Massimov or Boranbayev and carried out the international persecution of the Stati family using fabricated information, thereby knowingly and over a long period causing financial and reparational damage to Kazakhstan on the international stage.
During his time at the Ministry of Justice, Marat Beketayev also found himself a hostage to the protracted confrontation between Nursultan Nazarbayev and his most famous and implacable opponent, Mukhtar Ablyazov. As a result, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan and its head found themselves on the front line of the 'war' with Ablyazov, while the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the KNB of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the former financial police, now the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Combating Corruption, moved to the second echelon.
It was assumed that this is why, after the 'January events', Beketayev was moved to a much less visible position for external observers in the state apparatus. At the same time, it is not certain that Kasym-Jomart Tokayev and Yerlan Karin acted independently in this particular case, and not at the request, if not of Nursultan Nazarbayev himself, then of people from his inner circle. After all, the 'leader of the nation', now a 'well-deserved pensioner', cannot allow his main enemies to achieve victory.
SCANDALS SURROUNDING MARAT BEKETAYEV
We have repeatedly written about the injustice of the judicial system in Kazakhstan: about corrupt judges, biased decisions, ignored statements, and much more. Speaking about the biography of Marat Beketayev, a high-profile case comes to mind when, in the summer of 2009, while serving as Vice-Minister of Justice, he was involved in a scandal for drunk driving.
Speaking about the questions Kazakhstanis have for the Beketayev brothers, it is worth mentioning the so-called Law "Beketayev-Oksikbayev", in which Ruslan Beketayev featured one way or another. The updated law on auditing activities, where one of the key changes was the creation of a professional council to which the functions of quality control and certification of auditors were transferred, caused bewilderment among the people.
At that time, Beketayev refused to undergo a medical examination, later claiming that he was not the one driving, but his friend. And the court disregarded the official video recording provided by the police on the grounds that the recording was made illegally. As a result, Beketayev successfully avoided punishment.
Does one need to speak about the objectivity of the court at that time? After all, the case was in the 'Old Kazakhstan', and from this year the president intends to introduce principles of fairness, transparency, and solidarity in the country. But it is hard to imagine fair justice in 'New Kazakhstan', while representatives of 'Old Kazakhstan', such as Marat Beketayev, sat in the Presidential Administration.
Moreover, Marat Beketayev also came under public criticism when lawyers and advocates demanded Beketayev's resignation and wanted to take part in a rally against changes to the law "On Advocacy and Legal Assistance", which was ultimately cancelled due to a ban by the chief sanitary doctor. The head of the Ministry of Justice then stated that he did not intend to resign.
Beketayev's team, which we mentioned earlier, also once appeared in the media in a negative light. Thus, in March 2018, an article was published which described how Marat Beketayev's subordinates did everything possible to prevent an American investor from recovering money stolen by a citizen of Kazakhstan.
Throughout his entire track record, Marat Beketayev also managed to become famous for statements not related to the sphere of his department. For example, in October 2017, when asked by journalists what kind of transport he prefers, the Minister of Justice openly stated that he leases a Lexus car at the expense of the state budget. At the same time, he noted that his car