Baurzhan Kankin has been appointed Chief Client Officer and has become a member of the board of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). However, his appointment brings to mind his scandalous activities as chairman of the board of JSC "SPK "Shymkent", which were accompanied by dubious land schemes, conflicts with journalists, and outright disregard for public opinion.
LAND 'TYCOON' FROM THE SPK
Kankin's leadership of the Shymkent social-entrepreneurial corporation (SPK) turned into a veritable masterclass in the divestment of state assets. Back in October 2021, the founder of the FBRC, Kirill Pavlov, reported on his Telegram channel "Kazakh Chuvash", that the corporation under Kankin was receiving prime plots of city land bypassing all competitive procedures. Two plots of 0.1 hectares each in the centre of Shymkent were acquired by the SPK for a paltry sum of 3 million tenge — an amount Kankin himself could have spent on monthly 'non-bonuses'.
Particularly telling is the scam involving the plot of the former circus. In 2019, the former mayor of Shymkent, Erlan Aytakhanov, illegally sold 0.28 hectares of this land to the SPK for 7.3 million tenge, allegedly for the construction of an administrative building. Kankin did not miss this 'opportunity' — the corporation resold the plot to LLP "Sun Holiday" for 63 million tenge. As a result, the circus lost its car park, and a café appeared on the site of the promised administrative building.
The hippodrome was 'developed' in a similar fashion. In September 2021, the SPK took over the hippodrome from the state sports institution in payment for its own shares, valuing the deal at 70 million tenge. The 17.3-hectare plot was then sold to LLP "Zhas NS" for the construction of a residential complex.
The story of the hippodrome is particularly cynical: by a resolution of the mayor dated 10 June 2021, the plot was granted to the SPK for the construction of an apartment building, but within a month, according to materials from Majilisman Bakytzhan Bazarbek, the designated purpose was changed to the construction of a residential complex with a car park. All the plots were eventually consolidated into one tract and transferred to the developer.
Justice only prevailed in July 2023, when the Department for Land Resource Management won the court case — all decisions by the mayor's office and sale-purchase agreements were declared illegal. But Kankin had already left the SPK by that time.
BILLION-TENGE APPETITES FOR PUBLIC MONEY
The financial statements of the SPK "Shymkent" under Kankin's leadership were striking in the scale of spending on its own administration. As Kirill Pavlov [showed] in his analysis of open data, in 2020, over one billion tenge was spent on administrative and management staff, of which 962 million was accounted for by the head office.
With a staff of around 100 people, the average annual salary was over 12 million tenge per employee — one million a month, paid for by taxpayers. A separate line item was "remuneration to key management personnel" — 49.6 million tenge for eight people in 2020. That's an average of 6.2 million tenge in 'non-bonuses' for each top manager.
According to a document analysing corruption risks within the SPK, management received bonuses for Independence Day ranging from 250,000 to 1,025 million tenge. When journalists highlighted these amounts, Kankin cynically stated on television: "We didn't receive any bonuses. These are not bonuses, he (the journalist, i.e. Pavlov – ed. note FBRC) doesn't understand financial statements."
BOORISHNESS AS A COMMUNICATION STYLE
Kankin's attitude towards the media and the public revealed his true colours. He labelled any inconvenient questions as "a substitution of concepts" and suggested journalists should "learn the subject matter". In November 2020, a public conflict with Kirill Pavlov erupted on social media.
When the journalist analysed the SPK's financial documents, he asked pertinent questions about discrepancies in the reports. Kankin's reaction was revealing: he called the journalist "an ignoramus", "a liar", and suggested he "learn the subject matter along with English". As journalist Zaure Mirzakhodzhaeva noted in her post at the time, Kankin's remarks contained "openly sexist overtones", and his manner of communication was reminiscent of the behaviour "in the style of the leader of the LDPR".
The episode with scheduled interviews was particularly telling. Kankin failed to show up twice for planned meetings with Pavlov, cancelling them at the last minute. Yet later, on television, the head of the SPK claimed that "that journalist" had never contacted him.
DUBIOUS CONNECTIONS AND LIFESTYLE
On the GetContact service, Kankin's phone number was listed under quite telling names: "Traffic Cop Norm Gr", "Damir Norm 20t", "Handsome Daniyar from Aikon Client" and "Norm Astana". As media representatives noted, such entries could indicate links to the shadow economy, as GetContact is often used as a cloud-based system for exchanging data of a dubious nature.
Kankin's family business also raises questions. According to an investigation by News Price, a construction company linked to his wife actively secured state procurement contracts in the Akmola region precisely during his time working in the region from 2016 to 2019. The contracts amounted to hundreds of millions of tenge; however, the company accumulated debts of over 150 million tenge, and several large contracts remained unfulfilled.
More scandalous rumours also circulated. As cautiously noted in the investigation materials, there was talk of Kankin's predilection for narcotic substances, and even SPK employees allegedly said he sometimes held meetings in an incoherent state. However, the authors of the investigation stressed they did not believe these rumours — "after all, the creator of the Super Family company, a caring father and honourable manager of the entire JSC 'SPK Shymkent' cannot possibly be so depraved."
BRILLIANT IDEAS IN THE CAPITAL
Before his scandalous work in Shymkent, Kankin also made his mark in the capital. In 2017, while serving as Deputy Chairman of the Board of the SPK "Astana", he presented an ambitious covered boulevard project involving the star architect Santiago Calatrava. According to him, the project was to be "100% investment-driven" without using budget funds.
In an interview with journalists Kankin stated that "every resident of Astana has a dream to build something with their own money", and the covered boulevard was an excellent opportunity to realise that dream. He assured that the project was very interesting from a commercial standpoint, as it was the "historic downtown of the capital". Calatrava's architectural firm was allegedly willing to invest 15-20%, with Kazakhstani developers covering the rest.
The idea of a covered boulevard with a "sense of open sky" and "street acoustics" operating 24 hours a day seemed quite detached from reality in the Kazakhstani context. Unsurprisingly, the project never left the drawing board — apparently, residents of Astana were in no hurry to fulfil their "dreams" at their own expense.
TELLING DEPARTURE
During the January events of 2022, when the country was experiencing serious turmoil and two deputy mayors of Shymkent went out to the people, Kankin headed for the mountains of Tanzania. Symbolically, the manager of the "mayor's wallet" preferred African adventures to his civic duty.
QUESTIONS FOR HR POLICY
The appointment of a man with such a reputation to a key position at the AIFC raises serious questions about the selection criteria for personnel in strategically important financial institutions. Kankin left SPK "Shymkent" shrouded in scandal, litigation, and public outrage, yet this did not prevent him from obtaining an even higher position.
As Kirill Pavlov remarked in April 2022:
"We will remember him for his manner of communicating with journalists, when Baurzhan Kankin called any inconvenient questions a substitution of concepts and told them to learn the subject matter. We will remember him for his GetContact entries, his lies, his land removal schemes, his narcissism, and his nasty manner of communicating with ordinary people."
One can only hope that at the AIFC, Kankin will change his working style, although experience shows that some people do not change; they simply find new places for old habits.