Another scam, which was pulled by Bulat Utemuratov, became the subject of an investigation by international media. This time the scandal may turn into another loss for Bulat Zhamitovich, and it is possible that sanctions.
The notorious RG Gold mine is one of the companies that Bulat Utemuratov uses to artificially inflate the price of assets and then sell them to international investors. As a result of the deal, investors pay kickbacks to Bulat Utemuratov and former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The irony is that Bulat Utemuratov is siphoning public funds from the state using the money he received as part of state support.
Dmitry Shishkin, a Kazakhstani journalist, wrote an article about RG Gold and the role of state aid in it. This asset came under the control of Bulat Utemuratov in 2013 as a result of a deal with businessman Yerbolat Apsalyamov.
According to journalist Dmitry Shishkin, even before the deal with Verny Capital Group (when the business was owned by Apsalyamov), in 2010-2011, the government invested 78.16 million tenge. It should be noted that during the so-called first five-year plan, unlike the second, large-scale support for business was carried out at the expense of the state.
In 2015, RG Gold LLP implemented a new investment project within the framework of the state program within the so-called 2nd five-year industrialization plan. The volume of investments amounted to 910 million tenge.
In June 2021, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan (a subsidiary of Baiterek National Holding) announced a $300 million loan to RG Gold’s subsidiary, RG Processing LLP LLP.
“As you can see, the scheme with the gold business of RG Gold is quite simple, in a sense, it is an illustration of a kind of subspecies of the notorious public-private partnership. The state helps develop businesses in many ways: through its various government programs, including concessional lending, and then helps to sell products,” Shishkin said.
According to Forbes, Utemuratov is ranked 6th in the list of the 50 richest businessmen in Kazakhstan. The value of his assets as of May 2022 was $2.8 billion. However, Bulat Utemuratov used public funds to finance the RG Gold company, thereby actually robbing the state.
The most notorious cases of corruption in Kazakhstan are associated with parastatal funds and companies that operate without supervision. Bulat Utemuratov is one of the businessmen who, according to a former American diplomat, “never had a business.” Bulat Utemuratov’s entire business is to be a purse for the criminally acquired capital of Nursultan Nazarbayev.
