The main military prosecutor’s office of Kazakhstan announced the return of the land plot of the former hospital of the Ministry of Defense in Almaty to the state, the Kazakh service of Radio Liberty reports.
According to military prosecutors, in 2014 a land plot with a market value of more than $13.1 million and a total area of 3.8 hectares became the property of the Dostyk Stroy construction company, controlled by billionaire Timur Kulibayev, the son-in-law of ex-president of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev.
“However, given that this site has not been used for its intended purpose for more than seven years, the military prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit for its forced withdrawal,” the ministry said in a statement.
On November 24, 2022, the specialized inter-district economic court in Almaty satisfied the claims of the military prosecutor’s office. According to information on the court’s website, last month the judicial collegium for civil cases of the Almaty City Court upheld the decision of the court of first instance. The decision refers to the forced seizure of a land plot located along Nazarbayev Avenue in favor of the state. Dostyk Stroy tried to challenge this decision, but, according to Radio Azattyk, unsuccessfully.
According to Radio Azattyk, Kulibayev’s company planned to build a hotel on the site.
Earlier, state authorities demanded that companies affiliated with Kulibayev return other plots in prestigious areas of Almaty, including land that was previously part of the territory of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
Nursultan Nazarbayev, who rarely appears in public lately, did not comment on the state’s lawsuits against the companies of his relatives.
On January 11, 2023, the Constitutional Court of Kazakhstan canceled the law “On the First President of Kazakhstan – Elbasy”, which guaranteed Nursultan Nazarbayev immunity from persecution and inviolability of the property of himself and his family.