Although we faced constant pressure from some Belgian media outlets, we continued to report about the so-called Kazakhgate affair, convinced that in the end the truth will prevail. This is what kept us going during our long journalistic investigation on this topic. In the process, we have been accused of being part of Putin’s propaganda… Continue reading
Open source investigations
Everywhere we look around the globe, we sometimes spot a country that is filled with paradoxes – but none come closer to this situation than the Democratic Republic of Congo, located in Central Africa. The second largest country in Africa (and largest in Sub-Saharan Africa), with a population of over 78 million people, Congo might… Continue reading
Although there is an international arrest warrant issued on her name, Botagoz Jardemalie, a Kazakhstani national and the right hand of Mukhtar Ablyazov, had a company in Brussels, Belgium, and repeatedly visited the country without any hindrance from Belgian authorities. Who is Botagoz Jardemalie? Jardemalie was born on 10 July 1976 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In… Continue reading
The so-called Kazakhgate scandal first emerged in October 2012, when the French magazine Le Canard Enchainé published an investigation allegedly revealing how France interfered with the Belgian legislative process on behalf of Patokh Chodiev and his asociates. The proof for this scenario was a note, dated 28 June 2011, attributed to Etienne des Rosaies, a person… Continue reading
The extension of the amicable settlements in April 2011 in Belgium gave rise to two possible explanations. One explanation claims that a trio of Kazakh oligarchs – Patokh Chodiev, Alijan Ibragimov and Alexander Mashkevitch – used their connections to then French President Nicholas Sarkozy to get away with an ongoing criminal investigation in Belgium by… Continue reading
The experts of the Kazakhgate commission in the Belgian parliament delivered their preliminary report. Their findings and observations differ significantly from what the politicians told us so far. In short, the experts’ conclusion is this: there never was any Kazakhgate. What the experts say The preliminary report written by the experts working for the Kazakhgate… Continue reading
Frank Monstrey is perhaps best known in Belgium for his real estate project, Sterea, near Brussels, which includes The National Golf Brussels in Sterrebeek. Golf and real estate may be fine, but Frank Monstrey also is – or rather was – an oil tycoon in Kazahstan. And this put him in the company of some… Continue reading
Who is behind the Kazakhgate scandal in the Belgian media? OSI revealed one name so far: that of the Kazakh oligarch Bulat Utemuratov, who orchestrated it in late 1990s and early 2000s. (http://www.opensourceinvestigations.com/belgium/propaganda-works-first-kazakhgate/) Another character closely linked to Utemuratov is Mukhtar Ablyazov, a Kazakh oligarch too, and a fugitive from justice who is currently living… Continue reading
In August 1999, 5 people met at the Royal Hotel in Paris: Bulat Utemuratov, a Kazakh oligarch and the right hand of Kazakhstan’s strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev, Gregory Lutchansky, a Russian oligarch allegedly connected to the Russian Mafia, Shabtaï Kalmanowich, a former KGB general, Pierre Delilez, a Belgian cop specialized on Russian Mafia, and Eric Van… Continue reading
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a network was created in Belgium to discredit the so-called Trio formed of Patokh Chodiev, Alijan Ibragimov and Alexander Mashkevitch. The network was coordinated by Eric Van de Weghe, an exotic character connected with intelligence services and with the underworld of ex-Soviet oligarchs. Today, members of the former… Continue reading
