Kazakhstan: President’s Grandson Hid Assets Offshore
In January 2016, as the Kazakh economy was reeling from falling oil prices, its currency lost more than half its value. To meet the needs of the country’s social programs for the rest of the year, the government would need to use at least 12 percent of the National Fund, a hefty reserve fund of nearly US$ 62 billion earned from oil, gas and metals.
panamapapers/nazarbayev.jpg
Kazakh "President-for-life" Nursultan Nazarbayev
President-for-life Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has run this oil-rich country since 1989, appealed to the country’s rich and famous for help. Nazarbayev bluntly called on the rich to repatriate their money squirreled away in offshore accounts.
“We’ve raised many rich people: billionaires, millionaires. They are showing off; (their) pictures in Forbes… They look good, with makeup, well-groomed, well-dressed. But it is Kazakhstan that enabled you to earn all this money… Bring the money here. We’ll forgive you,” said Nazarbayev, noting that people couldn’t hide because his government had agreements to exchange financial information with most of the world’s countries.
In February, his eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva, who is the country’s deputy prime minister, echoed her father and called on the Kazakhs to “have a conscience,” “pay taxes,” and “sleep well.”
https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/kazakh-presidents-grandson-offshores/