A well-known tragedy occurred on the premises of the enterprise JSC «Maikainzoloto» on 4 January 2024. A bus with a driver and three workers from the Pavlodar branch of the RCSh PVASS, heading to an emergency call at the mine, was caught in a cave-in. The bodies of two deceased have already been brought to the surface. Despite the threat of further collapse, rescue operations are continuing.
Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Syrym Sharipkhanov, reported the details of the incident, noting that this case is exceptional. Meanwhile, the public is already asking the question: who is behind JSC «Maikainzoloto».
So, the enterprise JSC «Maikainzoloto», located in the Bayanaul district of the Pavlodar region, was established in March 1993. Its sole shareholder and founder is Rence Enterprises Limited. The General Director of JSC «Maikainzoloto» is Kuanysh Botin.
The founder of Rence Enterprises LTD is Amalco Holding LTD. The founder of Amalco Holding LTD, in turn, is Gold Mountain Holding LTD. Here the chain of organisers ends with the Serbian businessman Milan Popovic, who founded Gold Mountain Holding LTD. Incidentally, the legal addresses of these organisations all end in Cyprus.
Furthermore, in 2016 Milan Popovic was exposed for close ties with a Russian businessman, an oligarch close to the Kremlin, Konstantin Malafeyev, who was placed on the EU sanctions list.
As reported by some media outlets, today Mr Popovic is friends with another well-known Russian businessman and billionaire Igor Altushkin, who owns the Yekaterinburg-based CJSC «Russian Copper Company» (RCC) – the third largest copper producer in Russia. There are suggestions that de facto Rence Enterprises LTD, the sole shareholder of JSC «Maikainzoloto», is managed by Mr Altushkin.
However, not one representative of JSC «Maikainzoloto» has made themselves known since the incident. There is also no information about the tragedy on the official website. The company's website does, however, have a section called 'Financial Reports' which can, if necessary, be examined. But when you try to do so, you encounter a '404 error' or 'page not found'.
The financial reports we did manage to retrieve do not, however, inspire much confidence. In some sentences, individual words differ in font style. These shortcomings, nevertheless, do not stop the company from making money.
Thus, the gross profit for 2022 amounted to approximately 13.2 billion tenge after all expenses. Although the total amount of expenditure for 2022 exceeded 2 billion tenge, in the presented list there are no safety costs whatsoever.
Thus, the terrible tragedy of the first days of January occurred on the territory of the private enterprise JSC «Maikainzoloto», owned by a Serbian businessman through a Cypriot company, probably linked to representatives of the Russian oligarchy. Admittedly, even such a tangled web of dubious connections no longer surprises anyone.
It will be interesting to see who jumps from the sinking ship first when accountability comes knocking.