Almaty, 13 November. The airline Air Astana notes the detention of the chief executive of the Samruk-Kazyna fund, who holds the post of non-executive chairman of its group, according to the company’s statement published on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).
The statement consists of three sentences. In the first, the company, which together with its subsidiary carrier FlyArystan forms the group, notes the detention. In the second it specifies what position the detained man holds in the group itself. The third reads: “The Group continues following the updates.” The statement does not give the name of the fund’s head.
The exchange published the document on 13 November at 16:37 in Kazakh, Russian and English. The company does not say who is chairing the board of directors in the chairman’s absence or whether the board’s membership will change.
A non-executive chairman is one who leads the work of the board of directors but is not a member of the management board and does not run the company day to day. The board of directors approves strategy and oversees the work of management, while everyday decisions remain with the management board.
The National Security Committee (KNB) reported on 12 November the detention of Nurlan Zhakupov, chairman of the management board of Samruk-Kazyna, and Yelzhas Otynshiyev, chairman of the management board of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ). They are suspected of a corruption offence; the investigation is not disclosing details. Detention and suspicion do not mean guilt: that is for a court to decide.
Before this, the fund itself and KTZ had made statements about their work. The fund said on 12 November that it was operating as normal, and KTZ said on the afternoon of 13 November that transport was running without interruption. An hour and a half before the publication on the exchange, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at a Security Council meeting that the work of the fund and of state companies had not stopped and that the fight against corruption should increase the confidence of investors and creditors.
Air Astana’s securities, as the same statement says, are traded on three exchanges: KASE, the Astana International Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. The statement is addressed to investors: the contacts of the investor relations service are given below the text.
What it means: The case against the head of the state fund has reached a company whose shares are traded in London. The air carrier confined itself to confirming the fact and the detained man’s link to the group, and gave no assessment.
What we know now: It is known that the detained head of Samruk-Kazyna chairs the board of the Air Astana group as non-executive chairman and that the group is following events. It is not known who is performing his duties on the board or whether the detention will affect the board’s membership: the statement does not say.
Background: The Air Astana group describes itself as the largest airline group in Central Asia and the Caucasus by revenue and fleet size. It has 65 aircraft, split between Air Astana, which operated its first flight in 2002, and the low-cost carrier FlyArystan, created in 2019.
We have also reported on how the KNB detained the heads of Samruk-Kazyna and KTZ and on how the fund declared its assistance to the investigation and the preservation of its obligations.
