Kazakhstan - Family of former president
Nursultan Nazarbayev
About
Dariga Nazarbeyeva, eldest daughter of Kazakhstan's long-serving former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, is a member of the country’s lower house of Parliament, known as the Mazhilis, and she has been touted as a potential ruler since her father’s resignation in 2019. Nazarbayev retains official positions, including chairman of Kazakhstan’s Security Council, which advises the president on military and other matters.
Nazarbayeva previously served two terms in the lower house and a year as the country’s deputy prime minister. Her ex-husband, Rakhat Aliyev, served as the country’s ambassador to Austria. The couple divorced in 2007.
Aliyev died in 2015 in an Austrian jail cell where he was awaiting trial in the murders of two bankers in Kazakhstan. His death was ruled a suicide, but his lawyers told Austrian media that they doubted that he killed himself. According to The Guardian, Aliyev had claimed the charges were politically motivated.
The couple’s eldest son, Nurali Aliyev, was deputy mayor of the capital city, Astana, from 2014 to 2016.
Political Career
Family of Kazakhstan's president (1990-2019)
In The Pandora Papers
Dariga Nazarbeyeva owned eight shell companies in the British Virgin Islands. The assets held by the shell companies included a Swiss bank account and two cars, the Pandora Papers show.
Nazarbayeva’s shell companies included Napel Investment Ltd., which held an account at Julius Baer, a private bank in Switzerland, and Rosalin Overseas Ltd., which owned two cars. Nazarbayeva also controlled the assets of Bayland Overseas Foundation in Panama. Her son, Nurali Aliyev, owned nine BVI shell companies and her ex-husband owned one, according to leaked records.
In 2017, the offshore law firm Alcogal provided the BVI’s Financial Investigation Agency with information about companies owned by President Nazabayev’s family in response to an official request.
At least one company has since been closed. It is unclear if the family members still own other companies. Nazarbayeva and Aliyev did not respond to ICIJ’s repeated requests for comment. It is unclear how many, if any, of the companies remain active.
Secrecy Jurisdictions
British Virgin Islands
Secrecy Broker
At the heart of the Pandora Papers are 14 offshore firms that help clients establish companies in secrecy jurisdictions. This profile draws on leaked data from these providers:
Dariga Nazarbayeva
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Nurali Aliyev
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Rakhat Aliyev
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The information on this profile is current as of October 3, 2021. Read more about the Pandora Papers data.