61-year-old Belgian entrepreneur and investor Frank Monstrey has been placed on the wanted list by the Anti-Corruption Service of the National Security Committee (ACS NSC) of Kazakhstan.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE SEARCH
According to the portal of the bodies of legal statistics and special records of the Prosecutor General's Office, the search case was registered on 20 May 2026 in Astana. The initiator was the NSC, and the search is being conducted by the ACS NSC.
MONSTREY'S CONNECTION TO KAZAKHSTAN'S OIL AND GAS SECTOR
According to Frank Monstrey's personal website, he is known as an entrepreneur and investor associated with the oil and gas company Nostrum Oil & Gas PLC. In 2004, he acquired the company Zhaikmunai, later renamed Nostrum Oil & Gas.
The company conducts geological exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons in north-west Kazakhstan. In 2011, Monstrey took the company public on the London Stock Exchange, and in 2017, he sold his shares.
In Kazakhstan, the company operates through a subsidiary — Zhaikmunai LLP. In 2023, Nostrum acquired an 80% stake in Positive Invest LLP, which holds the rights to develop the Kamenskoye and Kamensko-Tep lovsko-Tokarevskoye fields in the West Kazakhstan Region (WKR).
According to the company itself, since 2005, Nostrum has invested more than $2.5 billion in Kazakhstan's economy, with tax payments exceeding $1 billion.
MENTION IN THE KIAR INVESTIGATION
In the investigation by Kazakhstan Initiative for Asset Recovery (KIAR), published in September 2017, Frank Monstrey was mentioned in the context of financial schemes related to the case of Mukhtar Ablyazov and BTA Bank.
It was alleged that structures linked to Monstrey may have been involved in the movement of funds within these operations. The entrepreneur himself denied such accusations.
Later, on 31 January 2018, Nostrum Oil & Gas PLC and CJSC BTA Bank entered into a mutual release agreement regarding potential claims related to the dispute over alleged links between Frank Monstrey, Mukhtar Ablyazov and a number of companies. This was reported by the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).