Kairat Satybaldyuly, the nephew of the country's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, was detained in Kazakhstan, Zakon.kz reports with reference to the Republic's Anti-Corruption Service.
Satybaldyuly was detained in the framework of the case of abuse of power and embezzlement of funds of the telecom operator Kazakhtelecom, he was placed in a temporary detention facility.
The agency is checking whether he is involved in other crimes "undermining the security of the state."
The service referred to Art. 201 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Kazakhstan, according to which the data of the pre-trial investigation are not subject to disclosure.
Kazakh media, including Orda.kz, previously wrote that Satybaldyuly is the founder of the offshore company Skyline Investment Company S.A., which owns more than 24% of the shares of Kazakhtelecom.
In 2016, Forbes.kz wrote that Satybalduly, through his company Alatau Capital Invest (ACI), acquired a 3.4% stake in Kazakhtelecom.
Satybaldyuly in different years held senior positions in Kazakh Oil, Dunie Corporation JSC, Kazakhstan Railways. In 2010-2015, he was the secretary of the ruling Nur Otan party.
As of October 2018, according to the Kazakh Forbes, Satybaldyuly ranked seventh in the ranking of the country's most influential businessmen and 36th among the richest. He was one of the main shareholders of the Kaspi JSC holding, through which he owned a stake in Kaspi Bank. In 2018, he withdrew from the shareholders of JSC Kaspi.
On January 17, another nephew of Nazarbayev, Samat Abish, was fired from his post as first deputy head of the country's National Security Committee. This happened against the backdrop of the January protests in the country. After them, President Kassym Zhomart-Tokayev carried out personnel changes in power. In addition, three sons-in-law of Nazarbayev lost their positions (they held the posts of chairmen of the board of KazTransOil JSC and QazaqGaz National Company JSC, as well as the head of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs), his daughter Dariga ceased to be a deputy of the Majilis (parliament).