The rise of Khrapunov dynasty, our dear guest thieves

The biggest and the most developed city of Kazakhstan – Almaty – remains the most prized one. Local mayor or governor of the region is considered a top political figure. Alas, in the same time it places a burden of irresistible temptation on the statesmen. In Kazakhstan’s reality it means that it is a race to grab everything that isn’t nailed down. Viktor Khrapunov, once a decorated energy minister was appointed as mayor of the city. The rest is told by Die Freie Presse.

Viktor Khrapunov took it very serious though. And took everything including what was nailed down, but not too tightly. He sold recreational lands to the privileged parties and made everything to quickly get his appointment monetized. There is no need to go into details. It was an impressive snatch, even by corrupt Kazakhstan standards. After all Viktor Khrapunov was ousted. Twenty or so criminal cases were opened against him, but without comprehension. Viktor Khrapunov and his family happily escaped and landed in Switzerland’s list of the wealthiest residents. All by hard work an God’s personal blessing!

The rumours are that his only role was quite secondary. Most of the schemes were provided by his spouse Leila. What’s most important – she provided stimulus for the ageing statesman to surprise her woman. Viktor Khrapunov done it surprisingly well – at the expense of intensive bribing, raiding and extorting. Leila Khrapunova presents it as a ‘successful business woman career’. Eventually she formally divorced his ‘weak’ husband although be legal reasons: to prevent seizing of her stolen assets.

Leila Khrapunova’s weak spot is her nearly manic intent to stay young. Which in her 63 is rather a difficult task to accomplish. Therefore each and every of her photo are heavily doctored. She underwent several cosmetic surgeries and became somewhat addicted to it. Viktor undergone them too. The retired statesman and her wife spent 430.000 CHF in one clinic, the sources report.

The story of Ilyas Khrapunov is even more amazing

First of all media often calls him ‘a son of ex-mayor Viktor Khrapunov. It’s not true. He is the son of Khrapunov’s wife, Leila. Khrapunov the elder gave him his family name. The stepfather introduced him to the world of shadowy finances. Ilyas was a swift learner. And took lessons from another acknowledged master of embezzlement – Mukhtar Ablyazov. He married her daughter, Madina.

Ilyas Khrapunov speciality is money laundering. He does it for the family and for Mukhtar Ablyazov. He owns developer corporations across the world, including Switzerland where he founded Swiss Development Group. American justice at the request of the city of Almaty and BTA have seized $500m of the Ilyas Kharapunov assets but the legal battle is far from the grand finale.

It’s not a surprise that the main defence line of Ilyas Khrapunov is to answer ‘I don’t remember’ and ‘I don’t know’ during every testimony. During one court session he answered it 450 times. The record comes second after Theranos scam. Elizabeth Holmes told it 600 times in a row.

Ilyas Khrapunov tries to build a career of the fixer. As he is – to much shame of the Swiss political system – is close to one of the parties and even holds there a honorary membership, he offers his services to other oligarchs. For a mere 10 percent of the total he offers a money laundering operations.

Khrapunovs were investigated by Swiss prosecution however nothing wrong in the multi-millionaire statesman and his family was found. After all they are not only fans of the Switzerland’s bank safety. Switzerland is literary infested with a rich xUSSR scum. And let me remind you: Switzerland is what it is not because it embraced the poor and downtrodden. The country makes quite a fortune on accepting the refugees of the whole new level.