Ex-justice minister arrested on abuse of office charges 

Kazakh authorities have reported the arrest of former justice minister Marat Beketayev on charges of abuse of office. 

The Anti-Corruption Agency said in a statement on 21 October that the former minister was suspected of “lobbying interests of an affiliated company by concluding yearly [government] contracts with it to provide unnecessary services, thus inflicting serious damage on the state.” 

While serving as justice minister between 2016 and 2022, Beketayev was in charge of the government’s very costly and protracted legal disputes abroad involving runaway oligarchs and former officials turned government critics.  

The longest and costliest case involved fugitive oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, one of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s biggest personal enemies. Ablyazov is accused of syphoning billions of dollars out of the country. 

Other similar cases involved Nazarbayev’s late ex-son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev and former Almaty mayor Viktor Khrapunov. 

Beketayev also oversaw the government’s lengthy legal battle with the Moldovan tycoons Anatol and Gabriel Stati. The two businessmen allege an illegal takeover of their assets in Kazakhstan, which the Kazakh side denies. The case, as well as various counter claims and appeals, has been considered in the Netherlands, the UK, the US and other countries. According to reports, the government has been spending up to 60m dollars a year on legal fees stemming from the case. 

Beketayev, 48, got his first government job in 2006 when he became an aide to a deputy prime minister, and a year later he became an aide to the then prime minister Karim Masimov. 

Beketayev was fired following the deadly January 2022 riots, which are officially seen as a coup attempt against President Tokayev by some members of Nazarbayev’s clan. Masimov, at the time security chief, was arrested for alleged state treason. According to some reports Beketayev was arrested on 21 October at Astana airport while trying to buy a ticket for an Istanbul-London flight.  

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