Monthly Archive

In 2009, a fugitive Kazakh oligarch arranged a meeting in London with the head of an international private intelligence agency. 1. The Kazakh connection Mukhtar Ablyazov, a slim man in his mid-for... read more..

Eurasia has become a hot spot on the map because of China's Silk Road initiative. The region's most populated country, once closed to the world, is now looking to reboot itself following generations o... read more..

One of Kazakhstan's top football officials has admitted he had been in a battle with drug addiction. Aisultan Nazarbayev, who is vice-president of the football federation, has shocked the country b... read more..

With Expo 2017, the former Soviet Republic is trying to wean itself from oil and create a new global financial hub. By day, the huge and gleaming sphere looks like the spaceship of aliens who may n... read more..

The Azerbaijani Laundromat is a complex money-laundering operation and slush fund that handled $2.9 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies registered in the UK. The scheme was ... read more..

Europol called Tuesday for tighter money laundering control saying in 2014 banks had reported one million suspicious transactions to authorities but only 10 percent of them were investigated. The E... read more..

Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is being pursued by the Kazakh government for alleged fraud, was taken off Interpol's red list at the end of July and is now free to travel. Interpol concluded that his presen... read more..

Who is behind the Kazakhgate scandal in the Belgian media? OSI revealed one name so far: that of the Kazakh oligarch Bulat Utemuratov, who orchestrated it in late 1990s and early 2000s.  (http... read more..

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is perhaps the most feared person whom President Donald Trump wishes he could fire. But unlike the sacking of FBI Director James Comey, it would not be so easy to axe Mu... read more..

Corruption comes in different forms. Corruption for money and wealth is a pervasive one. In politics, another kind of corruption is prevalent – the lust for power. Initially, political leaders ask... read more..

When people ponder the history of Central Asia, they tend to have two ideas in mind – that the region has long been the subject of great power rivalry, known since the 19th century as the ‘Great Game,... read more..

In the months before his arrest, Kazakhstani journalist Zhanbolat Mamay knew something was up. Writing on his Facebook account on December 6, he reported finding his car, which was parked outside h... read more..

Antwerp World Diamond Centre , Servais Verherstraeten, Axel Haelterman, Raf Verstraeten, Catherine Degoul, Patokh Chodiev, diamonds, Kazakhgate On 14 April 2011, the Belgian Parliament voted a law ... read more..

In August 1999, 5 people met at the Royal Hotel in Paris: Bulat Utemuratov, a Kazakh oligarch and the right hand of Kazakhstan’s strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev, Gregory Lutchansky, a Russian oliga... read more..

What secrets will Mueller find when he investigates the President’s foreign deals? President Donald Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow recently told me that the investigation being led by Robert Mueller,... read more..

The determination of Tony Blair and his wife Cherie to enrich themselves to the tune of tens of millions of pounds over the past decade has been one of the most unedifying spectacles of British public... read more..

Kazakhstan — Central Asia’s most stable state — is waking up to the fact that Islamic extremism has planted its roots and is here to stay. AKTOBE, Kazakhstan — A quiet Sunday morning came to an end... read more..

TDC Note – Kazakhstan is an important ally to both Russia and China. This tiny country is a member of both the SCO and EEU and smelts most of Russia’s gold. It is also the country that had formal talk... read more..

The latest Cage meme is no laughing matter, according to the Human Rights Foundation. Photos of Nicolas Cage dressed in traditional, nomadic garb in Astana, Kazakhstan, attending the Eurasia Film F... read more..

Two former associates of Donald Trump helped a family of wealthy Kazakh fugitives make extensive investments in the United States, some aimed at helping family members obtain legal residency here, a M... read more..

In a move presented as glorious and spectacular, oil companies from Russia (Rosneft), China (CNPC), Kazakhstan (Kazmunaygas), Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Italy (Eni) have teamed up to form a consortium for... read more..

Sumant Sinha led ReNew Power Ventures Pvt Ltd, a Goldman Sachs backed clean energy company -- is in active discussions with Orange Renewable to acquire its portfolio of a little over 600 MW of predomi... read more..

'No evidence could be produced to contradict the version of the accused' A lawyer tasked with purchasing property and handling local business affairs on behalf of a foreign couple who intended to t read more..

A new trial of Kazakh businessman Tokhtar Tuleshov began on July 13, in which he is charged with a number of offenses including attempting to overthrow the government, extremism, and illegal weapon po... read more..

Implausible as it might seem, a day will come when Kazakhstan will have a president other than the one now in power. But before Nursultan Nazarbayev departs his throne — however that happens — he h... read more..

After operations at its headquarters were suspended last week, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kazakhstan fear their country’s government is going down the same path as neighboring Russia, where the Christian ... read more..

Commodity prices have found a “new normal” but copper is doing much better. What seemed to be a widespread disease impacting commodity prices turned out to be a selective virus, against which some ... read more..

An old Chinese proverb would be best amended to go something like this: if you want China to be rich, you must first build roads. Unfortunately, a road or railway is useless unless you own and can leg... read more..

A former business associate of President Donald Trump has agreed to cooperate in an international money laundering investigation targeting a Kazakh family whom he helped make real estate deals with Tr... read more..

This month, Kazakhstan kicked off Astana Expo 2017, the first international exposition to be held in the former Soviet Union. The theme of Astana’s Expo is “Future Energy.” Heads of Asian and European... read more..