Gunter Papenburg sent a letter to Zhakip Asanov, the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan, requesting him to gain insight on dismissing former minister's case
Gunter PAPENBURG, a multi-millionaire from Germany, owner of an international building concern GP Gunter Papenburg AG, sent a letter to Zhakip ASANOV, the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan, requesting him to gain insight on dismissing case of Zeynulla KAKIMZHANOV, a former Finance Minister of Kazakhstan.
Copies of the letter were sent to the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan NAZARBAEV , the president of Germany Frank-Walter STEINMEIER, German Ambassador to Kazakhstan Rolf Mafael and Bolat NUSUPOV, Kazakhstan Ambassador to Germany. A copy of the letter came into possession of Forbes.kz.
Mr. Papenburg, who, by the way, is the Kazakhstan honorary council in Hannover, has been suing out ten million euros of his investments in Kazakhstan courts for two years. Turns out that a person, whose responsibility is to attract investors to Kazakhstan, is himself unable to obtain the protection in Kazakhstani courts for several years.
Let us recall that the legal proceedings of Gunter Papenburg and K-Dorstroy JSC, which according to Mr. Papenburg's litigation guardians, at the moment of transaction was controlled by Zeynulla Kakimzhanov , started in spring 2015. At that time GP Guenter Papenburg AG filed a lawsuit against the joint stock company to hold the contract to purchase K-Dorstroy shares invalid and to compensate EUR10 mln paid for the shares. Documents, which GP Guenter Papenburg AG submitted to the court, state that the company's managers were misled in regards to financial standing of K-Dorstroy JSC: the latter wasn't as bloomy as the sellers described.
In all judicial authorities GP Guenter Papenburg AG stated that starting early 2008 and further on all the negotiations between them and K-Dorstroy on purchasing its shares and on establishing joint business were held by Mr. Kakimzhanov personally. Mr. Kakimzhanov's judicial representatives deny this in courts. Mr. Papenburg also mentions in his letter to the Prosecutor General that a prejudicial criminal inquiry was opened into share purchase.
"March 30, 2017 GP Gunter Papenburg AG found out that the investigation of Mr. Kakimshanov's actions was ceased on October 9, 2016. This is in total contradiction to what was said in the letter dated December 14, 2016. That letter stated that the investigation continues, expert reviews are to start, and witnesses are examined".
The letter also states that the second termination of the case leads GP Gunter Papenburg AG to disbelief in Kazakhstan legal system.
The document continues: "Inconsistencies, which happen to be in the two rulings of the Supreme Court, for instance, on the issue of limitations of actions, are apparently, reoccurring in the criminal investigation. If the case was dismissed on October 9, 2016, the investigation results are in violent discrepancy to the contents of your letter dated December 14, 2016. It turns out that the Office of the Prosecutor General did not report to the Supreme Court on termination of the case, and it is why the Supreme Court did not send the case for supplementary investigation to the court of appellate jurisdiction,but informed us during the trial that the case was investigated by the prosecutor’s office. The ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan depended on the supposed further prosecutor investigation".
A lawyer who analyzed the Papenburg vs. K-Dorstroy case and who did not want to be identified commented to Forbes.kz which rulings of the Supreme Court are mentioned:
— Despite the fact that the defendant K-Dorstroy JSC, refers to the expiry of the limitation of action period, the Supreme Court first cancels rulings of the previous courts and sends the case for a new judicial investigation to the court of appellate jurisdiction. Following the second investigation of the court of appellate jurisdiction, the Supreme Court reviews the case for the second time at the notice of protest from the Prosecutor General under cassational procedure, and all of sudden rules that the limitation of action period has expired. Simply said, the Supreme Court is self-contradictory in these two rulings.
The letter to the Prosecutor General further states that GP Gunter Papenburg AG as affected party until now (the letter was dated April 6, 2017) has been informed on termination of the case neither verbally nor in writing as is right and proper by the law.
Mr. Papenburg emphasizes that neither he nor his representatives have received a notification on investigation dismissal and case termination within five months, if the case indeed had been dismissed. During that time, GP Gunter Papenburg AG was unable to "exercise its right to study materials of prejudicial investigation". This leads Mr. Papenburg to believe that his company was blown off its opportunity to encourage further investigation of the case. At the same time, he sounded a note of warning that the evidences might be destroyed and "appeal of the decision made by investigation agencies in fair investigation was fairly scuttled".
The investor follows up "That is why with severe disappointment I assured myself that the Republic of Kazakhstan does not protect foreign investor's rights because the government bodies do not follow the basic principles of the law-bound state. We became convinced in that during both civil court sessions and criminal case investigation. This is in spite of the fact that Mr. Nursultan Nazarbaev, the President of the country, indefatigably repeats that Kazakhstan must warrant defense of investors' rights using effective legal protection".
At the end of his letter, Mr. Papenburg requests the Prosecutor General to report on investigation results and to comment on the matter in hand.
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GP Gunter Papenburg AG is a multi-profile German concern whose main activities are construction of roads, residential and commercial building, transportation services, production of construction materials, etc.
The concern was established in 1963 as a private family company. Now, GP Gunter Papenburg AG includes over 35 subsidiaries and operational departments that employ over 4,000 people in Germany, let foreign branches alone. In Germany the company is engaged into construction of roads, railways, bridges, landfills, airports, and other facilities.
GP Gunter Papenburg AG website says that on the international market the company is primarily engaged into road construction. For example, in Kazakhstan they built a 100 kilometer-long highway between Astana and Borovoe. In Georgia the company made concrete paving on 9 km of motor road between Tbilisi and town of Leselidze. In Azerbaijan it constructed a four-lane road connecting Baku to its Heydar Aliyev International Airport. In Kosovo, the concern was contracted for repairing bituminous concrete surface on 92 km of roadbed (Pristina – Prizren – Albanian border with– Peja – border with Montenegro).
On a side note, Forbes Kazakhstan and Ratel.kz are currently in litigation with K-Dorstroy JSC, Avtodorservice LLP, Zeynulla Kakimzhanov, and his son Ilkhalid. These companies are going to defend their business reputation. The editorial offices still cannot understand whose business reputation requires defense provided that Serik RAMAZANOV, deputy general director of K-Dorstroy JSC is arrested for bribery. The offended businessman is now in jail together with Askar ZHANKIN, director of the Northern Kazakhstan regional branch of KazAvtoZhol National Company JSC, and Alexander LUTSENKO, a middleman. By contrast, Zeynulla Kakimzhanov is fine and dandy offering to his Facebook subscribers to delight their eyes with some lovely pictures of flowering trees in Italy.
Forbes.kz, 26 March 2018
