Source: www.rucriminal.info
In the business community there is an opinion that the Kazakh businessman Kenes Rakishev personality is not at all independent. No, of course, he knows a lot about certain areas of business (he did not study for nothing in Europe), but in fact, this "screen" behind which the true owners of assets - the political "top" of Kazakhstan. Who these people on interrogation in the US court (rucriminal.info has a certified interpretation of the testimony) told Rakishev himself. He acted under oath and if he was caught in a lie, he would immediately go to jail. As a result, Kenes was forced to "reluctantly" talk about his relations with the head of the KNB Karim Masimov, the son-in-law of Kazakhstan's leader Timur Kulibayev and about his meetings with Nursultan Nazarbayev.
After breathing out after such uncomfortable questions, Rakishev, in the opinion of rucriminal.info, fell into forgetfulness. During further questioning, he was unable to recall even the exact size of the shares of BTA and Kazkommertsbank, which he owned. Or is it not important when you just pretend to own? And the real owners are other people.
RESEARCH ON THE MS. Michelson:
Question Good day. My name is Robin Michelson. I represent Triadou, who is one of the defendants in this case.
Rakishev (R). Nice to meet you.
Q. I will do my best to ask questions that make sense. If you do not understand, please let me know, otherwise I will assume that you have understood everything.
R. Good.
MISTER. SCHWARTZ: Objection.
Question: What did you do to prepare for today's hearing?
R. Yesterday I had a meeting with my lawyers. That's how I prepared.
Q. Who attended this meeting?
R. Schwartz, his colleagues.
Q. Is there anyone else?
R. And also my personal lawyer.
Q: How long did you meet approximately?
R. I do not remember exactly, but enough for a couple of hours.
Q. Did you discuss your testimony today with anyone other than your lawyers?
R. No.
Q. Have you studied all the testimonies in this case?
R. Witnesses, no, no.
Q. Did you study the testimony of another BTA litigation?
R. Witnesses, no.
Question: What did you study?
MISTER. ШВАРЦ: In preparation for this hearing?
MIZ. Mikhelson: Yes.
R. Documents, all documents or any documents that are relevant to this case, but not testimonies.
Q. You witnessed this morning that Kazkommertsbank and BTA are in your property. I want to make sure that I understood correctly. When did you have an interest in Kazkommertsbank?
Approximately in 2015.
Q. What was your interest in Kazkommertsbank in 2015?
R. About 20 plus percent. 23, 22, 24 percent, I do not remember exactly.
Q. And since then has your share grown?
R. Yes.
Q. When?
R. In 2015 and 2016.
Q. How did it grow?
R. I bought packages from partners who were shareholders.
Q. Who did you buy back from?
R. These data are official. There are two main shareholders. One of them was an individual shareholder, and the other was a pension fund - an investment fund.
Q. Who was the person from whom you bought Kazkommertsbank?
R. Nurzhan Subkhanberdin.
Q. Can I more accurately record?
R. Nurzhan Subkhanberdin.
Q. Who was the institutional investor from whom you bought Kazkommertsbank?
R. Almair Capital, ALMAIR, Capital.
Q. Is it correct to say that when you left Kazkommertsbank, you owned about 75 percent?
R. Approximately.
Question: When did you become chairman of Kazkommertsbank?
R. In 2016.
Q. What were your duties?
R. The Chairman of the Board of Directors is responsible for all strategic decisions and questions
Question: Have you stopped working as a chairman in Kazkommertsbank when you sold your shares?
R: Yes, when I sold it. Almost immediately.
Q. And in December 2013, you agreed to buy about half of BTA's shares, is that correct?
R. In December 2013.
Question: Is this correct?
R. December 2013, yes, in December 2013, we signed the agreement, but it was fulfilled later
Q. Is it true that you currently own about 97 percent of BTA shares?
R: Yes, approximately.
Question: When did you purchase the other 47 percent?
R. Simultaneously with the sale of Kazkommertsbank, I bought from Nurzhan Subkhanberdin his interests in BTA Bank.
Question: Who owns the remaining 3 percent of BTA?
R. Historically, there are a small number of minority shareholders, I would say, thousands of them.
Q. A few thousand minority shareholders?
R. A small part.
Q. Do you know any of these minority shareholders?
R. No.
Q. Does the government have any part in BTA?
R. No shares.
Q. How did you become involved in the persecution of Mukhtar Ablyazov?
MISTER. SCHWARTZ: Objection.
Q. Is this part of your job as chairman of BTA?
MISTER. SCHWARTZ: Objection.
R. We have Nulan Nurgabylov, who is responsible for this direction, he is subordinate to the board of directors.
Q. What is your personal role in the recovery of BTA assets?
R. What do you mean by personal role? I am the chairman of the council, this is already some kind of role.
Q. What did you do as chairman in connection with the return of BTA's assets?
R. As I have already said, there are reports on the management of the board of directors and on the basis of this we make strategic decisions
Q. Is it true that you did not follow the activities of BTA agents, such as Arcanum or John Howell?
R. I, personally, no.
Question: Do you know how BTA pays for the work of agents to return assets?
MISTER. SCHWARTZ: Objection.
R. First of all, I'm not sure that I understand this question completely. I deal with a commercial side, we do not have employees through which we could pay agents.
Q I think now we are both confused.
R. Because you say the agent, and I'm not sure that I understand what you meant: an agent, an agency agreement, who, what ...
Q. Do you know that BTA cooperates with Arcanum?
R. As far as I know, we do not have any relationship with Arkan.
Q. Do you know if BTA attracted a company called Diligence?
R. As far as I know, she was involved as a subcontractor by a law firm.
Q. Do you know which law firm?
R. Hogan Lovells.
Q. Do you know if BTA has a company called John Howell?
R. As I understand, this information about what happened before I came to BTA. But in my time we had no relationship with John Howell.
Q. Do you know when BTA ceased to have a relationship with John Howell?
R. When I joined BTA, there was no relationship with this firm.
Q. Do you know if BTA has a relationship with a company called RJI?
R: Yes, I've heard that name, but I do not remember exactly.
Q. Do you know what and in what area does BTA cooperate with RJI?
R. As far as I understand, this is an investment consultant, financial.
Question: What do you mean by this?
R. Since I'm not a lawyer, I can not explain it to you, but in my understanding, they provide financial investment services.
Question: In your understanding, does RJI help BTA in investing BTA assets?
R. In structuring, not investing
Q. Does RJI help BTA in the return of assets allegedly stolen by Ablyazov?
MISTER. SCHWARTZ: Objection.
R. I can not answer this question because there is a person who is responsible for this. This is Nulan Nurgabylov and his field of activity.
Q. I understand this and we spoke with Mr. Nurgabylov. I'm trying to understand what you are doing and what you know.
R. Good.
MISTER. SCHWARTZ: He said he does not know.
R. I do not know the details, because I am the chairman of the board of directors.
Q- And do you receive compensation from BTA for your work as chairman?
R. No.
To be continued
Source: www.rucriminal.info
