Botagoz Jardemalie

Jardemalie Botagoz Myrzakhanovna is the former Managing Director of BTA Bank. At present, she is the representative of the interests of Mukhtar Ablyazov.

It is noteworthy, that the account of the faithful companion and former lover of the ex-banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, Botagoz Jardemalie, on Facebook is marked as a "authentic profile of a public figure." But the publicity of this person is based solely on her attempts to cover up the criminal past with the "oppositional" present. The same as her former boss.

Here is what the Kazakh media wrote about Jardemalie in 2018:

Indeed, the young lawyer moved up the career ladder by leaps and bounds, although her education had nothing to do with credit activities. But BTA employees knew what the secret of the success of the pretty and purposeful Botagoz was: the relationship between Jardemalie and Ablyazov very quickly ceased to be exclusively professional. It was rumored that Jardemalie almost became the second wife of the banker.

Be that as it may, Ablyazov's faithful companion got involved not only in working affairs, but also in the creation of fraudulent schemes. Botagoz Jardemalie, on behalf of Ablyazov, registered offshore companies abroad, allegedly engaged in investment projects.

From 2005 to 2009, Ablyazov withdrew billions of dollars from the bank through illegal issuance of loans to controlled offshore companies. Jardemalie, who oversaw a number of illegal investment projects, influenced the positive decisions of the bank's credit committee.

Between June 2006 and September 2008, based on illegal decisions of the credit committee under the master loan agreement between the bank and Rudnick Consolidated Inc. four loan agreements were concluded, under which the borrower was illegally transferred funds totaling almost $18 million.

From April 2006 to January 2009, 81 loan agreements were concluded with LLP AFD, according to which funds were illegally transferred to the borrower in the total amount of about 3 billion tenge and $87 million.

From October 2006 to May 2008, under 9 loan agreements illegally concluded under the General loan agreement of Senmore Limited, BTA Bank issued loans totaling $98.6 million.

From 2007 to 2009, by illegally made decisions of the bank's credit committee, LLP Esentai Residential was provided with loans totaling $199 million, including 2 letters of credit for $179 million and 6 loans for $20 million.

In August 2012, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan initiated a criminal case against Botagoz Jardemalie on the grounds of a crime under Art. 176 part 3 p. "a", "b" of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the fact of embezzlement of funds of JSC BTA Bank.

In September, she was charged with embezzling money on a large scale, committed as part of an organized criminal group, and issuing a knowingly non-repayable loan. In October, Jardemalie was put on the wanted list.

In July 2013, a new charge was brought against the former managing director of BTA Bank for misappropriation and embezzlement of other people's property and an arrest warrant was issued.

But Jardemalie had been abroad for a long time and played the same role as her former boss – she portrayed the victim of the persecution of the regime and even received political asylum.

Moreover, Jardemalie suddenly became a "human rights activist" and helped Ablyazov to handle his cases during the trial in the UK, and after his arrest in France, she dealt with his release from prison. To do this, Jardemalie even registered a law firm.

It was thanks to the "human rights" activities of Botagoz Jardemalie that Viktor and Leyla Khrapunovs were able to legalize themselves in Switzerland. Jardemalie thoroughly settled in Belgium, established a "modest" life in a luxurious apartment, and, it seems, she herself believed in her opposition. Very soon she had to "defend the rights" of her own brother, Iskander Yerimbetov.

Iskander Yerimbetov, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Karaganda Candy and founder of LLP Sky Service, was taken into custody on November 15, 2017. As reported by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the KNB, Yerimbetov was suspected of committing crimes under Art. 189 "Theft" and 193 "Legalization" of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The investigation believed that the entrepreneur laundered money stolen from BTA Bank, and also stole about 1 billion tenge of budget funds through LLP Sky Service, which is engaged in helicopter transportation.

According to the investigation, Yerimbetov's sister Botagoz Jardemalie was personally involved in the illegal issuance by BTA Bank of knowingly bad loans in the amount of about $500 million.

Of course, certain Kazakhstani and foreign media, as well as human rights activists of all stripes, began to shake the topic that "the detention of a businessman in Kazakhstan raises concerns about torture and political motives." And yet, Yerimbetov was accused of fraud in a group of people in seven episodes for a total amount of more than 208 million tenge. Yerimbetov and his accomplices were sentenced on October 22, 2018.

The entrepreneur received a 7 year sentence in prison. Together with him were convicted: the former President of Sky Service, Mikhail Zorov, was sentenced to three years of probation, the former Head of the Board of Directors of Sky Service, Dmitry Pestov, and the former member of the board of directors of this company, Vasilina Sokolenko, were sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison each.

What is Jardemalie doing at this time? First, she hires a foreign lawyer, Jared Genser, to resonate with the international community. At the same time, in order to turn Kazakhstani society against the operational-investigative group investigating the case, Jardemalie herself and other relatives talk about the systematic beatings of Yerimbetov in the pre-trial detention center, extortion of money from him by prisoners and a fabricated criminal case. Of course, without supporting these statements with any evidence.

Two years later, Yerimbetov was released on parole for health reasons. And very quickly, he left Kazakhstan with his family, reuniting with his sister.

In October 2019, Jardemalie's house was searched in the presence of representatives of the law from Kazakhstan. Back in 2017, it was reported that the Belgian judiciary was investigating Jardemalie for laundering about $100 million in that country.

In October 2020, Brussels-based Brussels Post News reported:

According to media reports, Botagoz Jardemalie may still be deprived of political asylum. There is a legal basis for this.

In the meantime, Botagoz Jardemalie is diligently creating the image of a European-level human rights activist for herself, is friends with Lyudmila Kozlovskaya, and will not change the cover photo on her Facebook page, on which the poster "Freedom to Yerimbetov" flaunts.

In the first days of January 2022, peaceful protests began in Kazakhstan, caused by an increase in gas prices. Very quickly they turned into riots throughout the country. A particularly difficult situation developed in Almaty, where a crowd of thousands smashed shops, restaurants, banks, beat military and police officers, and set cars on fire.

The rioters seized the buildings of the city akimat (mayor's office) and the presidential residence.

As of January 22, at least 225 people were killed, including 19 security officials, according to official figures. The General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan investigated 819 criminal cases: 45 cases of acts of terrorism, 36 – of riots, 15 – of murders. Other cases were opened in connection with robberies, thefts, theft of weapons and the use of violence against government officials.

Two days earlier, on January 20, MEPs (members of the European Parliament) adopted a resolution on the January events in Kazakhstan, urging Nur-Sultan to refrain from using accusations of “terrorism” too widely.

During the discussion of the document, the deputies made the main accents on the order of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to “shoot without warning”, detentions “indiscriminately” and torture in places of pre-trial detention, which were reported by the detainees and their defenders. A number of parliamentarians called for sanctions against high-ranking Kazakh officials, others asked their colleagues not to rush to conclusions and not make hasty decisions.

The 27-point resolution called for an end to politically motivated persecution of citizens and public associations, the release of arbitrarily detained citizens, not to hinder peaceful assemblies, and an end to arbitrary arrests and torture in Kazakhstan. The European deputies also recalled the possibility of imposing sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations. 589 deputies voted "for", 35 "against", and 47 abstained from voting.

MP Heidi Hautala said it was necessary to know the truth about "how peaceful protests turned into violence, what elements were involved, whether they were organized, what caused the escalation, the ensuing violence and death." This requires an independent international investigation, she said.

On January 29, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said there was no need for an international investigation in the January events of the country.

Tokayev also said that the resolution of the European Parliament on the events in Kazakhstan is biased and premature.

Tokayev said that this resolution was dictated by lobbyists who work on the orders of people who once left Kazakhstan.

And he turned out to be right.

The day after the adoption of the resolution by the European Parliament, Lyudmila Kozlovskaya, an assistant to Mukhtar Ablyazov, announced this on social networks. True, in the paragraphs of the document concerning the January pogroms, she casually inserted the following:

In fact, there was no such clause in the 2022 resolution. The document, which mentioned two political offspring of Ablyazov, was adopted in February 2021.

The European Parliament concluded that the Kazakh government "improperly used restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to increase political repression."

The document mentioned the Koshe Partiyasy movement and the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, "banned by secret court decisions that classified them as 'extremist organizations'." The resolution referred to 17 leaders of the Koshe Partiyasy, who were "threatened with long prison terms", as well as 26 "political prisoners who were victims of political persecution due to the fact that they supported these movements."

The resolution also mentioned lawsuits against Elena Semyonova, who defends the rights of prisoners. Several colonies of the country and their employees filed a lawsuit against the human rights activist with accusations of libel.

The European Parliament called on the Kazakh authorities to immediately release and rehabilitate all political prisoners, and to stop using “anti-extremist legislation” against supporters of peaceful opposition movements and the Criminal Code “against activists, bloggers and others for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”

The European Parliament called for the safety of ethnic Kazakhs and other minorities who fled concentration camps in China.

In addition, the European Parliament recalled the existence of “the recently approved EU global sanctions regime in the field of human rights, which allows the EU to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of human rights around the world” and called on “the Vice President of the European Commission / High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security to consider imposition of targeted sanctions against persons in Kazakhstan guilty of human rights violations”.

Obviously, such documents were not adopted without the intervention of Lyudmila Kozlovskaya (who is not even a citizen of Kazakhstan) and her comrade-in-arms Bota Jardemalie. This is confirmed by the fact that in mid-June, on the sidelines of the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg (France), Jardemalie and Kozlovskaya held meetings with the deputies of the member countries of the Council of Europe. They "presented to the deputies a new report on the situation with human rights in Kazakhstan and a list of political prisoners, victims of torture, politically prosecuted in criminal cases."

Both Jardemalie and Lyudmila Kozlovskaya “debunked the myth of the allegedly strong Tokayev, who at an economic forum in Russia said that he did not recognize the “LPR” and “DPR”, which is only an image of “Independence” to help Putin bypass Western sanctions. They also noted the economic expansion of Russia in Kazakhstan.”

In their report, the “human rights activists” frankly manipulated unreliable information. So, they stated that “the Kazakh authorities, under the threat of criminal prosecution, taking family members hostage, are forced to join the ranks of conscripts on March 27, 2022 to leave to fight in Ukraine.”

Moreover, Lyudmila Kozlovskaya and Bota Jardemalie called on the Kazakhs to sway the situation within the country and created a very serious diplomatic problem for Kazakhstan:

Obviously, neither Ablyazov nor his two assistants need a calm and stable Kazakhstan. They will continue to make every effort to create a negative image for the country in the international arena, and they will also stir up the situation from the inside, throwing in false information and spreading fake data discrediting the President of Kazakhstan.