The mysteries of Hydra: KGB, oil and firecrackers on the beach

Kazakh oligarch Daniyar Abulgazin, known as “Hurrem” by his adversaries, has earned this nickname after the Ottoman sultana who rose from being Suleiman the Magnificent’s concubine to his lawful wife and a powerful ruler of the palace. This comparison suggests that Abulgazin, like Hurrem, can manipulate any situation to achieve his goals.

Whether or not this comparison is accurate, it is undeniable that Abulgazin got what he wanted regarding the Persephone yacht incident that disrupted Hydra. Following a fire that engulfed the island’s forest, caused by fireworks from the rented yacht, the “Persephone” sped to the Vouliagmeni marina. From there, Abulgazin and his party boarded a private jet at “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport, departing for Kazakhstan within two hours.

A source informed THEMA that “when you rent a yacht for $250,000 a week, it’s not hard to find a learjet at short notice.” Other sources indicated that the aircraft used for their rapid departure belonged to one of Abulgazin’s companies.

The 10 passengers aboard the 53-meter yacht, from which the Hydra fire originated, did not provide statements to the authorities. The Coast Guard deferred to the fire department officials, who faced resistance from the influential Kazakh group, insisting on an immediate return to Athens to catch their flight. However, their urgency was unfounded since the privately chartered aircraft was prepared to wait as long as needed for their arrival.

The 53-metre yacht Persephone

The crew of the yacht is brought before the Piraeus judicial authorities | Photo: Panagiotis Koufalexis

Powerful occupants

The powerful occupants included Phaniak and Fifa Khan. On the 53-meter yacht, besides Abulgazin, were his wife Aidan Suleimenova and their young son. Also present were Baybet Sayakmetov, a top executive at the national oil company KMG International NV, and his wife Umut Sayakmetova, a managing director at Kazakhstan’s largest financial institution, Halyk Bank, along with their daughter. Other notable guests included Diana Baitasova, the country’s chief fund manager; Suleimenova’s personal assistant; Adam James Hogg, the British owner of A.P. Gas and Heating; and the Polish real estate business couple, Oleg and Angelica Andreyev. Several other guests of Abulgazin and his wife were also aboard.

Daniyar Abulgazin: The Kazakh oligarch has a fortune valued at $380 million

Aidan Suleimenova: Abulgazin’s wife, owner of Arion Group LLP and president of a charity in Astana

The march towards oligarchy

The word “oligarch”, when used for the big businessman Abulgazin, is not an exaggeration. For 2024 he was named the 21st richest man in Kazakhstan, while last year he was the 18th most influential businessman in the country.

His businesses range from oil exploration and petrol stations to railways, shopping malls, charities, real estate and fashion companies, positions in government agencies and sports federations, and even nuclear energy business. So to say that his fortune is valued this year (based on figures from last May) at $380 million is probably not saying much.

He and his wife are the definition of influential people. It hasn’t always been that way, however. Born in 1969 in Almaty (formerly Alma-Ata), the metropolis and until 1997 the capital of Kazakhstan, he studied at the KGB’s Higher School in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1991 (while working there).

It was the same year that the Soviet Union was collapsing, along with the dreams of Abulgazin, who was unemployed overnight. Just like Hurrem, however, the then young Daniyar was too smart, capable and flexible to remain unemployed. So, very quickly, using his family connections and his multiple talents, he began to rise in the world of finance and business, rapidly reaching the top. In what way?

His introduction (circa 2002-2003) to Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of then Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is considered key. Daniyar generously offered Kulibayev his knowledge, expertise and loyalty. So much so that some in Kazakhstan call him the ‘perfect lieutenant’. After all, such qualities are rare and therefore sought after in the Kazakh oligarchy. The team of two soon became a three-man team when Abulgazin’s wife’s brother, Dias Suleimenov, joined it.

The three’s wealth accumulation, according to Public Eye, was not particularly difficult in Kazakhstan, which ranks 122nd (out of 180) on Transparency International’s Corruption Index. There, the research network says, the family of now-former President Nazarbayev and his oligarchs are using natural resources to amass vast wealth.

In this environment – in which the lines between the public and private sectors are blurred – Vitol carved a path to the top by lending $5.2 billion from 2015 to 2018 to KazMunayGas, the national oil company, in exchange for crude oil shipments. The Public Eye investigation says a discretionary consortium of the country’s oligarchs played a key role in this. Registered in Rotterdam in 2003, Ingma Holding BV managed oil contracts worth at least $93 billion from 2009 to 2016.

The company paid more than $1 billion in dividends to its shareholders, which were split between Vitol and its partners. These included “politically exposed persons” (PEPs) – first Arvind Tiku, an Indian businessman and shareholder of Ingma through his company Oilex NV; then, from 2010, Kazakh oligarch Diaz Suleimenov; and “possibly Daniyar Abulgazin, both former high-ranking oil sector officials. The trio has always maintained close ties with Timur Kulibayev, the president’s son-in-law. From 1997 to 2011, the latter was the head of several energy companies in the country.”

In Kazakhstan, the leak of documents dubbed “Kazaworld Leaks” sheds light on the country’s oil business and outlines this secret community between Abulgazin – Suleimenov – Kulibayev.

However, unlike most oligarchs, Abulgazin prefers to keep a more significant distance from the state. The highest position he has held in the state hierarchy was as Kazakhstan’s deputy minister of economy. Insiders note that he quickly realized he could gain much more—both in wealth and power—by aligning with the semi-sovereign sectors.

When Kulibayev was appointed head of Kazakhstan’s state wealth management fund, Abulgazin followed suit by being put in charge of the fund’s oil and gas subsidiary. In this role, he also managed the state-owned oil giant KazMunayGas, which met the state fund’s financial needs by generously supplying its vast reserves of “black gold.”

Umut Sayakmetova: CEO of Kazakhstan’s largest financial institution, Halyk Bank

Timur Kulibayev: The son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s president is seen as a key man in the rise of oligarch Daniyar Abulgazin

Daedalusian network

“It’s complicated”. The phrase used to describe the confused emotional state of people on social media fits the description of Abulgazin’s colossal fortune like a glove. That’s because he and his wife own shares in such a wide range of businesses in Kazakhstan that it would probably take an encyclopedia to list them all!

So, in summary, today, Dannyar Abulgazin owns shares in Qazaq Oil gas station networks, Sino Oil and Gas Energy, PTC Operator LLP, Petroleum LLP (the fourth company in the country in terms of assets and transport volume), RTI-ANPZ LLP, Kazakhstan’s only private railway company SilkwayTransit LLP.

His family also owns shares in Petrosun LLP, which imports petroleum products from Russia, Avtogaz Trade LLP (network of petrol stations), Sinooil LLP, Prime Case LLP (network of KazMunayGas petrol stations), LLP Mercury Service Company, which operates Petroleum LLP, Premium Oil Trans LLP, Ertys Service LLP and Batys Petroleum LLP, as well as Dostyk Gas Terminal LLP (LPG transshipment complex on the border with China with a capacity of 1 million tonnes per year and a cost of EUR 60 million). USD 60 million).

Abulgazin is also chairman of the country’s Oil and Gas Industry Commission, secretary general of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, vice-president of the Boxing Federation and the Greco-Roman, Free and Women’s Wrestling Federation, owner of the judo club TAK Astana Club, president of the Anti-Football Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, member of the Boxing Federation of the capital, member of the board of directors of the Medical Sports School of the Russian Federation and the Almaty Triathlon Federation.

At the Academy of Athletics of the Almaty University of Almaty.

His wife, Aidan Suleimenova, is the owner of Arion Group LLP (active in the nuclear power plant sector) and a shareholder in the construction company ADD Invest Properties LLP. Through the latter, together with Timur and Dinara Kulibayeva, he manages in the capital Astana the Keruen shopping centre (with an area of 60,000 sqm and a daily flow of 30,000 visitors), famous for its huge glass roof, the Talan Towers shopping centre and the Turan-18 business centre. Furthermore, in the city of Atyrau, the Baizaar Mall and in the city of Aktobe, the Keruen Mall.

It also owns a stake in Viled Group, which in 2012 opened Kazakhstan’s door to US premium retailer Saks Fifth Avenue. Viled represents brands such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and Van Cleef & Arpels in the country, holding an estimated 60% of the market in jewelry and 25%-30% in fashion. Aidan also has stakes in Viled International LLP, Viled Fashion LLP, Group Lux LLP, Premium Beauty LLP and the perfume and cosmetics store chain Code de Vie. It also owns shares in biological products, oil, investment, construction and other companies.

The “Fund for the People”

In 2022 in Kazakhstan, where 0.001% of the population controls 50% of the national wealth, violent protests erupted over socio-political and economic inequalities. The country’s then president, Kasim-Jomart Tokayev, responded with a new policy he called the “de-oligarchization of Kazakhstan’s economy”.

So he created a fund which he called the “Fund for the People” that would finance the people’s needs in health, education and social support. His target was the powerful businessmen who made their fortunes under the presidency of Nazarbayev. Amid controversy over the fund’s transparency and anger at the pressure on the country’s civil servants to contribute at least a day’s salary to it, Abulgazin showed extraordinary reflexes. He was one of the first two influential businessmen in the country to donate money to it. And he made a start, with big business offering three-quarters of the $44 million raised by the fund.

The charity part, however, has been taken over for the family by his 1968-born wife, Aidan (or Aidana) Suleimenova, who started her career as a doctor and is now a businesswoman and philanthropist. Aidan graduated from Moscow’s second medical institute under the name Pirogov, working for several years as a doctor until she left the job and founded the Ayala charity, which she heads to this day. As she says, she did it because she has as her principle and attitude to life the phrase of the famous American actress Audrey Hepburn, “the duty of every human being is to help children who are suffering. Everything else is just a whim and a self-indulgence.”

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