Kazakh Tycoon Related To Nazarbaevs Reportedly Detained

Qairat Boranbaev (file photo)

NUR-SULTAN -- Media reports in Kazakhstan say that tycoon Qairat Boranbaev, whose daughter was the wife of the late grandson of ex-President Nursultan Nazarbaev, has been detained in the city of Almaty.

The KazTAG news agency and Vlast.kz website quoted sources close to the financial police on March 15 as saying that the 55-year-old Boranbaev was placed in a detention center after he was questioned in an unspecified corruption case.

Officials in Kazakhstan refused to confirm or deny the reports.

Boranbaev's daughter, Alima Boranbaeva, and Nazarbaev's grandson, Aisultan Nazarbaev, were married in 2013.

In September 2020, Aisultan Nazarbaev, who suffered from drug addiction and had run-ins with the law in the United Kingdom, died in London at the age of 29.

The reports about Boranbaev's detainment came hours after the authorities said that Nazarbaev's nephew, Qairat Satybaldyuly, was placed in pretrial detention for two months on charges of embezzlement and abuse of power.