As VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have discovered, the oil business is increasingly attracting Kazakhstani oligarch Kenges Rakishev and his friends from the corrupt elite. Rakishev is a "dear friend" of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and co-owner of Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering, which produces Arlan armored vehicles. It was this very vehicle that participated in the storming of Mariupol alongside the Chechen National Guard.
Russian oil trading has now become a veritable gold mine, where one can amass hundreds of millions of dollars in just a few years. Rakishev, whose large investments (thought to be not his own, but those of former President Nazarbayev's entourage and relatives) sank into the black hole of IT startups, appears intent on making amends for past failures. In recent years, he has been concentrating oil assets in his Fincraft and changing their ownership structures. Recently, his Fincraft Group transferred a 26.95% stake in the oil and gas company Tethys Petroleum Limited (Cayman Islands) to its wholly-owned subsidiary, FG Limited, a private company registered in the Astana International Financial Center on November 10, 2025. Rakishev previously stated his intention to acquire 100% of Tethys, which is developing the Akkulka, Kyzyloi, and Kul-Bas fields. The offshore company has a subsidiary in Kazakhstan, Tethys AralGas.
Rakishev acquired his stake in Tethys at the end of 2024, and Pope Asset Management (Tennessee, USA) owns approximately 40%. Fincraft explained the transfer of the stake to its Kazakh subsidiary by saying it was creating a new oil and gas holding company that would attract long-term investment in current and future oil and gas projects.
It recently became known that the company of Ilyas Tasmagambetov—a friend and relative of Kenges Rakishev, the nephew of CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov, whose daughter Rakishev is married to—will build an oil refinery in the Aktobe region. The Aktobe Oil Refinery TOO is also located there, a stake in which Ilyas Tasmagambetov directly owned until several years ago; he was also the company's CEO until August 2019. The company's ownership structure has been unknown since a major scandal erupted around it: top managers of the plant, accused of fraud, claimed that Tasmagambetov was attempting to gain complete control of the company. The plant is currently managed by Nurlan Karazhigitov, one of its owners and a business partner of Tasmagambetov.
The criminal case involved the illegal export of 13,000 tons of oil worth 1.4 billion tenge (over $4 million) under the guise of "OilBlend," a petroleum product blend. The "recipe" for this blend was developed at the plant itself—it's a residual product of refining, from which the most valuable kerosene fraction has been removed. OilBlend can be used to produce fuel oil, liquefied gas, and gasoline, but this requires specialized equipment. China Petroleum Company Junda, the largest oil refinery in Kyrgyzstan, built as part of China's "One Belt, One Road" program, purchased OilBlend from Aktobe Oil Refinery. The investigation concluded that OilBlend was crude oil.
Five refinery employees were charged in the case, including Almaz Kuzhagaliyev, the marketing director, whose family owned a stake in the company. The Tasmagambetovs offered to sell their shares to them, but were refused. Kazakh journalists reported that pressure was exerted on Kuzhagaliyev, leading him to nearly come to blows with Kenges Rakishev, who had been fully supporting his friend Tasmagambetov in seizing the company. A fight was averted by bystanders, but after this incident, the criminal case escalated. Kuzhagaliyev ultimately received a 19-year sentence. However, the situation changed dramatically after the resignation of Tasmagambetov Sr. as Kazakhstan's ambassador to Russia in 2019: a man of Nazarbayev's, he lost his former influence after the new president came to power. The plant's top manager's conviction was overturned, the case was retried, the charge was reduced to a lesser one, and in 2022, Kuzhagaliyev was released in court "due to having served his prison term." It is believed that despite the change in management, Rakishev's friend Ilyas Tasmagambetov still retains control of the company.
In addition to the oil refinery, Tasmagambetov also owns other companies. For example, his Invest Oil Trade is engaged in the wholesale trade of fuel oil, gasoline, and other fuels. This company is planning to build an oil refinery near the village of Bestamak. Its subsidiary, BSG Trading, was registered in 2023 and is also engaged in fuel trading. Furthermore, Ilyas Tasmagambetov is a founder of Bizmo LLP and Bizmo cubes, which develop software, and owns IOT Logistics, an individual entrepreneur engaged in cargo transportation. Taking into account Rakishev's oil production assets, this creates a complete chain of operations for oil production, trading, and delivery.
Tasmagambetov Jr. is the same Kazakh businessman with whom he befriended in his youth German-born Christopher Eppinger during his internship at KazMunayGas. Eppinger became famous last year when it was revealed that he had earned $250 million in the past couple of years trading Russian oil. It is known that one of the ploys to circumvent sanctions is mixing Russian oil with crude from other countries, particularly Kazakhstan.
Ilyas Tasmagambetov once convinced Eppinger to invest in his Aktobe Oil Refinery. According to Eppinger's own terse accounts, he initially made a profit and began attracting German investors for Kazakh projects. However, some Kazakh partners ultimately cheated the Germans out of a very large sum. The role of friends Ilyas Tasmagmbetov and Kenes Rakishev in this criminal story is unknown, but someone helped Eppinger move to Dubai and introduced him to Canadian-Pakistani trader Murtaza Lakhani. Lakhani had once developed sanctions-evasion schemes for Iran and was now working on schemes for Rosneft. He taught Eppinger everything he needed to know.
Before being sanctioned, Lakhani operated out of London, where he registered his company, Mercantile & Maritime UK Ltd. He is also closely connected to the elites of European countries. This is precisely why he is so successful in getting away with it. Lakhani traded Iranian and then Russian oil for many years, and his counterparties and their tankers were sanctioned, but he himself was only sanctioned in December 2025.
Incidentally, Rakishev is well-connected with the same circles of the European elite. As the son-in-law of a senior government official—Imangali Tasmagambetov always held high positions under Nazarbayev—Kenges Rakishev acted as an intermediary in international business contacts. Simply put, he helped wealthy foreigners gain access to the right offices and was willing to speak his mind on their behalf. Specifically, a report by the FREEDOM FOR EURASIA foundation states that Kenes Rakishev also collaborated with his peer, Iskander Massimov, whose father, Karim Massimov, served as prime minister and head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan. Together, they organized visits to Kazakhstan for foreign dignitaries (such as members of the US Congress) and businessmen, which included meetings with their fathers. However, when testifying under oath in the US, Kenes Rakishev refused to answer the question of whether he had ever been asked to buy gifts for Massimov. Incidentally, after Tokayev came to power, the elder Massimov was charged with treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Rakishev's friend, Masimov Jr., changed his last name to Iskander Karim. He owns Amanat Publishing House in the US, and since 2017, he has worked for the Arab fund Mubadala, which has close ties to Russia.
Furthermore, according to British media, back in 2007, Kenges Rakishev acted as an intermediary in negotiations between Prince Andrew (the Duke of York) and Nazarbayev's son-in-law, oligarch Timur Kulibayev, regarding the latter's purchase of the British aristocrat's family estate, Sunninghill Park. The price was so inflated that journalists called it a veiled bribe. In return, the prince apparently was supposed to persuade European bankers to manage the Kulibayev family's capital—at least, such a meeting with a Scottish bank was discussed in leaked correspondence.
At the time, the Duke of York was the British Trade Ambassador and conducted extensive business with local elites in Kazakhstan through Rakishev. Specifically, he was asked through Rakishev to facilitate Kazakhstan's conclusion of a government contract with a Greek wastewater treatment company and a Swiss financial house; the contract involved half a billion dollars. The resulting scandal in the UK was monstrous.
Kenes Rakishev also currently owns a business in the UK: Equus Petroleum Ltd., in which he owns a large stake, is registered there. Its subsidiary, Equus Petroleum B.V. (Netherlands), is registered to Kazakhstan's Kumkol Trans Service, which is producing at the Sarybulak oil and gas field under a contract running until 2039. The total assets of Equus Petroleum B.V. at the end of 2024 exceeded 126 million euros.
As a reminder, Kazakhstan exports its oil to European countries via the Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline (owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, a joint venture with Russia). To avoid sanctions risks, in the summer of 2022, Astana renamed its Urals crude oil to KEBCO (Kazakhstan Export Blend Crude Oil). In late 2022, international investigators discovered that some refineries were blending the two grades and selling them as pure Kazakh KEBCO crude oil.
