Mansions, fights and trucking: how Karim Massimov’s son-in-law lives

As Adam Bol magazine wrote in 2014, Mr Kapenov’s opponents were sure that he was using his official position in the Kaztemirtrans company for personal gain: “He really took over the entire railcar market, and after he became vice president, the tariff rates for rail transportation went up”… In 2020, the editors of Open Media found out that since 2018 Mr Kapenov owned a plot of land with an area of ​​2900 square meters in Serebryany Bor in Moscow. There was also a mansion of 507 square meters, which the son-in-law of the former head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan sold for 1 billion rubles.

For more than a week the Kazakh public has been discussing the high-profile case of the former head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, Karim Massimov, who is suspected of treason. However, we offer a look at the career path of a no less ‘interesting’ person – the son-in-law of the former head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, Azamat Kapenov, who is married to his eldest daughter, Tamilla Karim.

Initially, Mr Kapenov’s path began rather non-trivially – he graduated from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University with degrees in economics, management and law and the Kazakh Academy of Transport and Communications named after Tynyshbaev with a degree in organization of transportation, traffic and operation of transport.

After the university, then the future son-in-law of Mr Massimov, he decided to go to work by profession. Since 1996, Mr Kapenov has already held senior positions in various organizations; one of which was JSC NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ).

However, he climbed the Olympus of leadership rather fast and for several years he has served as a Vice President of JSC Center for Transport Services, Deputy General Director of LLP Transport Holding of Kazakhstan, Vice President for Operations and Logistics of JSC Kaztemirtrans.

At the same time, the name of Mr Kapenov began to appear in the media, but by no means in the most favorable light.

For example, in 2009, Mr Kapenov was detained for a fight in the Almaty restaurant Beirut, the media wrote that the reason was a conflict with the famous producer Yeltinzhal Turganaliev.

Three years later, the newspapers again discussed the he scandal involving Mr Kapenov. He accused his ex-wife Adilya Kusherbayeva of stealing 150 thousand US dollars, but the accusation failed in court.

But all of the above incidents were purely personal. And the public’s interest was mostly aroused by his work in KTZ, or more precisely in the subsidiary company Kaztemirtrans, where Azamat Kapenov held the position of vice president for operations and logistics.

As Adam Bol magazine wrote, Mr Kapenov’s opponents were sure that he was using his official position in the Kaztemirtrans company for personal gain.

The opponents argued that he really took over the entire railcar market, and after he became vice-president, the tariff rates for rail transportation went up regardless the cargo specifications, weight, type of packaging.

In 2014, Inter Group Corporation LLP sent a letter to the then president of KTZ, Askar Mamin, in which there were direct accusations against Mr Kapenov due to a sharp increase in freight transportation tariffs for this company. Later, the Prosecutor General’s Office concluded that Kaztemirtrans illegally raised rates for some companies and at the same time significantly lowered them for others. The prosecutors wrote in their conclusion: “As a result of the activities of KTZ managers the amount of lost income due to illegal decisions of officials amounts to billions of tenge.”

It cannot be said that the events did not affect Mr Kapenov’s personal life. He had to change his place of residence and move to Moscow. Just there, fate again turned to him – he met the eldest daughter of the then Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov – Tamilla Karim. In 2015, they got married and soon, not just Azamat Kapenov, but the son-in-law of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, he got a new position – he became deputy general director of the Federal Freight Company and began to develop business in the CIS and neighboring states.

The ‘hype’ of Mr Massimov’s son-in-law did not end there. In 2020, the editorial board of Open Media found out that since 2018, Mr Kapenov owned a plot of land with an area of ​​2,900 square meters in Serebryany Bor in Moscow. There was also a mansion of 507 square meters, which the son-in-law of the former head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan sold for 1 billion rubles.