However, those forecasts never materialized: Yesimov has remained at liberty and, by all accounts, appears to be doing well — physically, morally, and financially.
Moreover, Akhmetzhan Yesimov has not fallen out of the circle of influential people, despite detractors mocking his current position as an unofficial adviser to Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev-Elbasy, who, by the way, is either a paternal or maternal uncle to Yesimov; Akhmetzhan Smagulovich has certainly not lost his influence.
To understand this, one only needs to look at the Forbes lists. Akhmetzhan Yesimov’s name is not there. However, the names of his daughter Aizhan Yesimova and her former husband Galimzhan Yessenov are. Many consider the divorce between Yesimova and Yessenov to be a sham, which seems quite believable. Because Yessenov’s kinship with a relative (forgive the construction) of Elbasy was a hindrance for him to integrate into the ranks of the new elite represented by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Moreover, after his enthronement, Tokayev declared that "under Elbasy, very wealthy people appeared in the country, but now it’s time to think about ordinary people." These words made many from Nazarbayev’s entourage nervous. Some indeed faced issues, but not the Yesimov-Yessenov family.
However, let’s return to the Forbes lists. Aizhan Yesimova ranks 44th with a fortune estimated at 207 million dollars. Her ex-husband Galimzhan Yessenov is 15th on the Forbes list. He is nearly three times wealthier than his former spouse — Yessenov’s fortune is estimated at 590 million dollars.
What does Akhmetzhan Yesimov have to do with it? It’s both simple and complex. Simple, because in 2007, the unknown project manager of the investment group "Seimar," Galimzhan Yessenov, suddenly married Aizhan Yesimova. And he moved into the banking sector, immediately taking up the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of "Delta Bank." Then he became a banker — he acquired ATF Bank and "Kazphosphate," the sale of which led Aizhan Yesimova to the list of the richest people in Kazakhstan.
Then everything unfolded as simply as in the fable about the American billionaire — "I can account for every cent of my money except the first million." With Galimzhan Yessenov, this formula probably doesn’t work, but we can help him report. To understand where a middle manager suddenly got millions of dollars to buy factories, banks, newspapers, and ships, it is enough to recall his father-in-law Akhmetzhan Yesimov’s biography from that period. Compare the swift career and social rise of his son-in-law with these milestones of the great journey of yesterday’s district party committee instructor, who was lucky to belong to the clan of the future Elbasy. The latter moved from the chair of the first secretary of Kazakhstan’s Communist Party regional committee to the chair of the republic’s president, with Yesimov always by his side.
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This story is as old as time and shares commonality with the tales of all higher party executives of the former USSR, who suddenly found themselves as absolute rulers of newly independent countries in 1991. They began plundering these states mercilessly. Akhmetzhan Yesimov was in a favorable position as Nazarbayev’s nephew, and he understood at some point that it was better to channel the stolen funds through his own structures rather than others’. Thus, he acquired ATF Bank, which was formally recorded under his son-in-law.
There is no doubt that it was Yesimov, not Yessenov, who bought ATF Bank — in 2013, the newly minted son-in-law simply couldn’t have half a billion dollars, which was the cost of the bank’s purchase. Subsequent events only confirm this version. In 2017, ATF Bank received 260 million dollars from Kazakhstan’s Central Bank. At that time, Akhmetzhan Yesimov merely held the position of Chairman of the Board of JSC NC "Astana EXPO-2017" and seemingly had no relation to refinancing.
But the keyword here is "seemingly." Yesimov was hastily appointed to head the exhibition after the previous management failed in all organizational activities. His task was to "restore and accelerate Astana’s preparation for the exhibition." One of Yesimov’s first steps as Chairman of the Board of JSC NC "Astana EXPO-2017" was "to optimize expenses." It is worth noting that Yesimov received accolades at the highest level for presenting the exhibition. After its completion, he headed the JSC "National Welfare Fund ’Samruk-Kazyna’."
At that time, JSC NC "Astana EXPO-2017" was serviced precisely by ATF Bank, with which Yesimov established warm relations even during his time as the akim (mayor) of Almaty. In this position, Yesimov became famous for numerous sports events, earning well-deserved credit. However, a detail often overlooked is that most events were organized by sports societies headed by Galimzhan Yessenov. Naturally, the funds allocated by Almaty’s akimat were channeled through ATF Bank.
The most obvious sign of Akhmetzhan Yesimov’s ties with ATF Bank is the fact that in 2020, funds from the National Welfare Fund of Kazakhstan "Samruk-Kazyna," which Yesimov headed at the time, were placed in the bank. This was done in violation of all fund regulations, which stipulate that funds should be stored in a bank with an "A" rating, while ATF Bank at the time had a "B" rating. In November 2020, Yessenov sold ATF Bank to another bank affiliated with Nazarbayev — Jýsan Bank.
How much money belonging to the Kazakh people went abroad via ATF Bank is unknown. But these sums are massive, as the Fund controls state assets accounting for 43% of the country’s GDP. After Akhmetzhan Yesimov’s removal as the chair of "Samruk-Kazyna," many thought that his son-in-law, Galimzhan Yessenov, would go down with him. There were high-level assertions that funds from the Fund and ATF Bank were funneled by people from Nursultan Nazarbayev’s closest circle.
For instance, Majilis deputy Ermurat Bapi stated in his inquiry to the Prosecutor General that “Swiss authorities discovered that Galimzhan Yessenov has a substantial amount of money in his account. Yessenov is Yesimov’s son-in-law. We know who Akhmetzhan Yesimov is. After the account holder failed to prove the legitimacy of the money, Swiss investigators approached Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General, inquiring about Galimzhan Yessenov’s financial activities.”
The inquiry went unanswered, even though Yessenov’s and Yesimov’s names appeared in an investigation by the Center for Investigative Journalism on Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP) specifically concerning money found in foreign accounts belonging to Nazarbayev’s close relatives.
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Considering that the Nazarbayev family’s overall fortune is estimated at a minimum of 20 billion dollars, the subsequent events related to Akhmetzhan Yesimov and his former son-in-law Galimzhan Yessenov — frankly dubbed the “wallet” of his father-in-law — raise more questions than provide answers. In November 2020, Galimzhan Yessenov sold ATF Bank to another bank affiliated with Nazarbayev — Jýsan Bank. Yessenov owns 99.74% of “First Heartland Securities,” through which he controls 79.63% of “First Heartland Jusan Bank,” while another 20.11% of the bank belongs to him directly. Moreover, through Jusan Bank, he holds shares in “Kazakhtelecom” — 9.19% — and in “Kcell” — 9.08% (another 14.87% personally).
In this context, it’s essential to understand the following: First Heartland Securities is part of the First Heartland group of companies, owned by Pioneer Capital Invest. This, in turn, is owned by Nazarbayev University (16.06%), Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (9.46%), and the Nazarbayev Fund (74.48%). Therefore, it turns out that ATF Bank, which facilitated the outflow of money from Kazakhstan’s National Welfare Fund (let’s recall, from 2017 to 2021 it was headed by Akhmetzhan Yesimov), was bought by a bank effectively owned by Nursultan Nazarbayev. Consequently, Akhmetzhan Yesimov’s “wallet” thereby became Nazarbayev’s “wallet,” at least in Kazakhstan’s banking sphere. Although, in reality, this was likely the situation until Nazarbayev’s removal from the presidency; now, the “intermediary” in the form of Akhmetzhan Yesimov is simply being removed. Significant portions of the funds, which the future Elbasy considered his own, stuck to his hands.
But Galimzhan Yessenov is not facing any claims from current authorities, nor is Akhmetzhan Yesimov, who placed National Welfare Fund’s money in a highly suspicious bank that Nazarbayev subsequently acquired. After the January 2022 mass unrest, current President of Kazakhstan Tokayev stated that “Samruk-Kazyna” must either be reformed or liquidated. However, neither happened. The Fund’s leadership naturally changed, but any investigation, if there was one, did not present claims against Akhmetzhan Yesimov and his son-in-law Galimzhan Yessenov. Even though it has been established that the National Welfare Fund served to siphon significant sums from Kazakhstan’s state and quasi-state enterprises.
This leads to an unequivocal conclusion — the new elite has struck a deal with the old. At least, with part of it, including Akhmetzhan Yesimov, who is the nephew and informal adviser to the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan — Elbasy. The terms of the agreement between Yesimov and Tokayev and the cost of it remain unknown. But the fact stands — Akhmetzhan Yesimov is not among those whom Kassym-Jomart Tokayev threatened when he called to "consider the ordinary people."