ID 10ASTANA184
SUBJECT KAZAKHSTAN: PRESIDENT’S SON-IN-LAW TRIES, BUT FAILS, TO
DATE 2010-02-12 00:00:00
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
ORIGIN Embassy Astana
TEXT C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000184
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2020
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, SOCI, KDEM, KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: PRESIDENT’S SON-IN-LAW TRIES, BUT FAILS, TO MUTE CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS
REF: A) 09 ASTANA 1762
B) ASTANA 119
C) 09 ASTANA 1761
Classified By: Charge d’ Affaires, a.i. Pamela Spratlen: 1.4 (b), (d)
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Timur Kulibayev, the President’s influential son-in-law and Deputy Chairman of the National Welfare Fund Samryk Kazyna, sued four independent newspapers for publishing articles alleging that he received major kick-backs from the Chinese for oil contracts signed in 2003-05. The court initially sided with Kulibayev, ordering on February 1 the confiscation of all print runs that carried the story and placing a ban on any other articles insulting Kulibayev’s honor and dignity. It reversed its ruling on a technicality after an outcry from civil society leaders and criticism from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media. Ousted, self-exiled chairman of Bank Turam Alem (BTA) bank Mukhtar Ablyazov is the source of the corruption allegations. The Financial Police opened an investigation into Ablyazov’s allegations on February 11. END SUMMARY.
KULIBAYEV SUES FOR LIBEL
2. (SBU) Timur Kulibayev, President Nazarbayev’s influential son-in-law and Deputy Chairman of National Welfare Fund Samryk-Kazyna, filed a libel suit on February 1 against four newspapers — “Respublika,” “Golos Respubliki,” “Vzglyad,” and “Kursiv” — after they published a story accusing him of corruption.
An Almaty district court, acting with uncharacteristic swiftness on the same day, ordered the confiscation of all print runs containing the story and placed a ban on future stories that “insult the honor and dignity” of Kulibayev. The order was immediately delivered to the four newspapers, as well as to other independent news outlets and newspaper stalls across the country.
ABLYAZOV IS THE SOURCE
3. (SBU) The source of the offending story was a letter to media outlets from Mukhtar Ablyazov, the ousted and self-exiled chairman of the Bank Turam Alem (BTA) bank who fled the country following accusations of embezzlement and financial fraud (ref A). In the letter, Ablyazov accused Kulibayev of pocketing a portion of the proceeds from the sale of a government stake in a Kazakhstani oil company to the China National Petroleum Company (ref B) in 2003.
According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Ablyazov has documents proving Kulibayev’s illegal machinations. Ablyazov’s accusations appeared in the media at the same time as a story that Dinara Kulibayeva, Kulibayev’s wife and Nazarbayev’s daughter, bought a luxurious villa in SWITZERLAND for a record 74 million Swiss franc (approximately $68.4).
CONDEMNATION FROM CIVIL SOCIETY
4. (SBU) The court order caused an uproar in civil society. Chief editors and journalists of the four newspapers held press conferences condemning the court decision as an attempt to “completely exterminate independent media in Kazakhstan.” Editor-in-Chief of independent newspaper “Svoboda Slova,” Gulzhan Yergaliyeva, called on the Supreme Court to reverse “this shameful ruling.” Political opposition parties also joined in the protests. The Ak Zhol party — seen by some as an opposition party closest to the government — released an unusually harsh statement criticizing “this selective justice” for “creating a cast of untouchables in Kazakhstan and further legalizing corruption.” International NGOs Freedom House and the Committee to Protect Journalists publicly urged the courts to rescind “the unacceptable gag-order,” declaring that “censorship has no place for the chair of the OSCE.” On February 8, Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, released a statement condemning libel lawsuits in Kazakhstan (as well as Tajikistan and Hungary) as “dangerous attempts at censorship.”
JUDICIAL MISTAKE
5. (SBU) The first inklings that not all in the government agreed with the Almaty court ruling appeared on February 8. The Chair of the Supreme Court, Musabek Alimbekov, told journalists that the Almaty judge “may have made a mistake. Judges are human,” he said, “and humans make mistakes.” Alimbekov noted that any potential judicial mistake would have to be addressed in a court of higher instance. General Prosecutor Kairat Mami also said that his office was looking into a case of possible judicial malfeasance, based on a complaint from several journalists.
GAG-ORDER RESCINDED
6. (SBU) On February 9, the court rescinded its own ruling to ban articles that “insult (Kulibayev’s) honor and dignity.” The ruling was based on a technicality — the judge ruled that Kulibayev did not follow proper pre-trial procedures for libel cases when he failed to ask the newspapers to print a retraction before filing suit. Civil society activists greeted the verdict as a temporary victory, but did not exclude the possibility that the President’s powerful son-in-law will find other ways to squelch the story in independent media. In her ruling, the judge said she would consider the plaintiff’s demand for a public apology only if the media outlets refuse to publish a refutation.
MORE TO COME?
7. (SBU) Meanwhile, Ablyazov continued his campaign against Kulibayev. On February 8, he announced that he sent proof of Kulibayev’s embezzlement to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the parliament, and political parties. He also claimed to have sent letters to several leading businessmen in Kazakhstan urging them to share any information on Kulibayev’s wrong-doings, and publicized an email address (mukhtar.ablyazov@gmail.com) to which people could send complaints against Kulibayev. Activists of the Alga opposition party — widely believed to be financed by Ablyazov — made several attempts to publicly deliver Ablyazov’s letter to the parliament in Astana. On two separate occasions, the group was detained by the police for organizing an unsanctioned rally. On February 11, Kazakhstan’s State Agency for Fighting Economic and Corruption Crimes (Financial Police) announced that it received Ablyazov’s letter and launched an investigation into the case.
8. (C) COMMENT: Ablyazov’s allegations have started a flurry of guessing games about the state of play in the power games among the Kazakhstani elite. Most independent political analysts agree that Ablyazov must have received the incriminating evidence from a third party — either Rakhat Aliyev, Nazarbayev’s exiled former son-in-law, or someone high enough in Kazakhstan’s power echelons to have access to this kind of information. Some allege that Ablyazov is the front man for interests in the oil industry that want to diminish Kulibayev’s far-reaching influence in the energy sector. Others speculate that this is a power play from one of the rival political clans (ref C). All agree, however, that this case is all about power and control. It is also an important test of freedom of expression in Kazakhstan. The fact that the court rescinded its gag-order is a positive sign, and here the strong statement from OSCE’s Haraszti certainly played a role. However, as civil society activists point out, the judge’s ruling leaves open the possibility for Kulibayev to take further legal action if the newspapers refuse to print a retraction. We will continue to watch closely how these power games play out. END COMMENT.
SPRATLEN
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XTAGS: XTAGPGOV, XTAGPREL, XTAGPHUM, XTAGSOCI, XTAGKDEM, XTAGKZ
XDEST_09ASTANA1761|09ASTANA1762|10ASTANA119
TAGS
ADDED 2011-09-04 03:51:56
STAMP 2011-09-04 03:51:56
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