Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev’s shadow oil empire grows amid sanctions evasion, corrupt ties, and close links to Ramzan Kadyrov’s inner circle
As discovered by the media the oil business is increasingly attracting Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev and his friends from the corrupt elite. Rakishev is a “close friend” of Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov and co-owner of Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering, which produces the “Arlan” armored vehicles. This is exactly the type of vehicle that, together with Chechen National Guard forces, participated in the assault on Mariupol.
Currently, trading Russian oil has become a real goldmine, where one can make hundreds of millions of dollars in just a few years. Rakishev, whose large portion of investments (reportedly not his own money but that of the entourage and relatives of former President Nazarbayev) ended up in a black hole of IT startups, seems determined to make up for past failures. In recent years, he has been focusing on oil assets through his Fincraft and changing ownership schemes. For example, recently his Fincraft Group transferred a 26.95% stake in the oil and gas company Tethys Petroleum Limited (Cayman Islands) to its 100%-owned “daughter” company – the private company FG Limited, which was registered in the Astana International Financial Centre on November 10, 2025. Previously, Rakishev had stated that he intended to acquire 100% of Tethys, which develops the Akkulka, Kyzyloy, and Kul-Bas fields. In Kazakhstan, the offshore company has a subsidiary – Tethys AralGas.
Rakishev acquired the stake in Tethys at the end of 2024, while about 40% is still owned by Pope Asset Management (Tennessee, USA). The transfer of the share to his Kazakh “daughter” company in Fincraft was explained as the creation of a new oil and gas holding, which would attract long-term investments in current and future oil and gas projects.
Recently, it became known that a company owned by Ilyas Tasmagambetov — a friend and relative of Kenes Rakishev, and nephew of CSTO Secretary-General Imangali Tasmagambetov, whose daughter Rakishev is married to — will build an oil processing plant in the Aktobe region. The same region houses the plant of TOO “Aktobe Oil Refinery,” a stake in which was directly owned by Ilyas Tasmagambetov several years ago. He also served as the plant’s general director until August 2019. The ownership structure has been unknown since a major scandal erupted around it: top managers accused of embezzlement claimed that Tasmagambetov was trying to gain full control of the company. The plant is now run by Nurlan Karazhitov, one of its owners and a business partner of Tasmagambetov.
A criminal case involved the illegal export of 13,000 tons of oil worth 1.4 billion tenge (over $4 million) under the guise of the oil product blend “OilBlend.” The “recipe” for this mixture was originally developed at the plant — a residual product from refining with the most valuable kerosene fraction removed. From “OilBlend” it is possible to produce fuel oil, liquefied gas, and gasoline, but special equipment is required. “OilBlend” was purchased, for example, by “China Petrol Company Junda” — the largest oil refinery in Kyrgyzstan, built under China’s Belt and Road Initiative. However, the investigation concluded that “OilBlend” is actually crude oil.
Five plant employees were charged, including Almaz Kuzhagaliev, marketing director, whose family owned a stake in the company. The Tasmagambetovs allegedly tried to buy their shares but were refused. Kazakh journalists reported that Kuzhagaliev was pressured, and he nearly came to blows with Kenes Rakishev, who actively supported his friend Tasmagambetov in seizing the company. Witnesses prevented the fight, but after this incident, the criminal case escalated. Kuzhagaliev was ultimately sentenced to 19 years. However, the situation changed sharply after Tasmagambetov Sr., the former Kazakh ambassador to Russia, resigned in 2019: a person close to Nazarbayev, he lost influence after the new president came to power. The top manager’s sentence was overturned, the case retried with a lighter charge, and in 2022 Kuzhagaliev was released “having served the term.” Despite the change in plant management, it is believed that Rakishev’s friend Ilyas Tasmagambetov still maintains control over it.
Besides the oil refinery, Tasmagambetov owns other companies. His “Invest Oil Trade” engages in wholesale trading of fuel oil, gasoline, and other fuels. This company plans to build the refinery near Bestamak village. Its subsidiary, “BSG Trading,” registered in 2023, also trades in fuels. Moreover, Ilyas Tasmagambetov co-founded TOO “Bizmo” and “Bizmo Cubes,” which develop software, and owns IP “IOT Logistics,” engaged in cargo transport. Considering Rakishev’s oil assets, this forms a complete chain for extraction, trade, and delivery of oil.
Tasmagambetov Jr. is the same Kazakh businessman who befriended a young German native, Christopher Eppinger, during an internship at “KazMunayGas.” Eppinger became known last year when it was revealed that he managed to earn $250 million over the past couple of years trading Russian oil. One method for circumventing sanctions is mixing Russian oil with raw materials from other countries — particularly Kazakhstan.
Ilyas Tasmagambetov once persuaded Eppinger to invest in his “Aktobe Oil Refinery.” According to sparse accounts from Eppinger, initially he profited and began attracting German investors for Kazakh projects. Ultimately, some Kazakh partners defrauded the Germans of a very large sum. The role played by friends Ilyas Tasmagambetov and Kenes Rakishev in this criminal story is unknown, but someone helped Eppinger move to Dubai and introduced him to Canadian-Pakistani trader Murtaza Lakhani. Lakhani once structured sanction-evading schemes for Iran and later worked on schemes for Rosneft. He taught Eppinger all necessary methods.
Before being sanctioned, Lakhani operated from London through Mercantile & Maritime UK Ltd, and is well-connected with European elites. This explains his ability to stay out of trouble — his clients and tankers faced sanctions, but he himself was added to the sanctions list only in December 2025.
Rakishev is also integrated into similar European elite circles. As the son-in-law of a high-ranking government official — Imangali Tasmagambetov, who held senior posts under Nazarbayev — he mediated international business contacts. In simple terms, he helped wealthy foreigners gain access to key offices and was ready to put in a word for them. According to the FREEDOM FOR EURASIA fund report, Rakishev also cooperated with his peer Iskander Masimov, whose father, Karim Masimov, was Kazakhstan’s prime minister and head of the National Security Committee. Together, they organized visits of high-ranking foreign officials and businesspeople to Kazakhstan, including meetings with their fathers. While testifying under oath in the U.S., Rakishev refused to answer whether he had ever been asked to buy gifts for Masimov. Karim Masimov Sr. was later sentenced to 18 years for treason after Tokayev came to power. Rakishev’s friend Masimov Jr. changed his surname to Iskander Karim and owns Amanat Publishing House in the U.S.; since 2017 he has also worked in the Mubadala fund, closely linked to Russia.
According to British media, as far back as 2007, Rakishev acted as a mediator in negotiations between Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, oligarch Timur Kulibayev, over the purchase of the Duke’s ancestral estate, Sunninghill Park. The price was so inflated that journalists called it a disguised bribe. The prince, in return, was apparently supposed to convince European bankers to manage Kulibayev family assets — at least, correspondence suggested such a discussion with a Scottish bank.
At the time, the Duke of York acted as a UK trade envoy and conducted large-scale business in Kazakhstan through Rakishev. He was asked, via Rakishev, to facilitate Kazakhstan signing a government contract with a Greek wastewater treatment company and a Swiss financial house — a deal worth half a billion dollars. The scandal in the UK following the leak was enormous.
Rakishev now also has business in the UK: a company called Equus Petroleum Ltd, in which he owns a large stake. Its subsidiary, Equus Petroleum B.V. (Netherlands), holds the Kazakh “Kumkol Trans Service,” which produces oil at the Sarybulak field under a contract until 2039. The total assets of Equus Petroleum B.V. exceeded €126 million at the end of 2024.
Kazakhstan exports its oil to Europe via the “Tengiz-Novorossiysk” pipeline (owned jointly with Russia by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium). To avoid sanctions risk, in summer 2022, Astana rebranded its Urals oil as KEBCO (Kazakhstan Export Blend Crude Oil). By the end of 2022, international investigators discovered that some refineries were mixing these two types and selling the result as purely Kazakh KEBCO oil.
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