The Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland has ordered the unfreezing of $212 million in the country's bank accounts. This money may belong to Sholpan Boranbayeva, the wife of convicted businessman Kairat Boranbaev.
This decision came after Kazakhstan dropped its claims regarding these assets, reports the publication "Vlast," citing court documents.
“In June 2022, the authorities of Kazakhstan sent a request to the Attorney General's Office of Switzerland for banking documents related to Boranbaev and his relatives. A follow-up request with additional details related to the allegations against the businessman was sent in April 2023,” the publication states.
In June 2023, the Swiss court ruled to freeze Sholpan Boranbayeva's bank accounts and provide Kazakhstan with banking documents.
In the same year, Kairat Boranbaev, the former relative of Dariga Nazarbayeva, was sentenced to six years for embezzling 14.5 billion tenge from the company "KazTransGas." He was released early and began returning his assets to the state.
“After this, the authorities of Kazakhstan informed Switzerland in several letters that they had no sufficient evidence of the illegal origin of the funds in the Boranbaevs' accounts in Swiss banks and that they no longer had any claims against them,” the publication writes.
In January 2025, the Swiss court annulled the previous decisions regarding the freezing of accounts and legal assistance to Kazakhstan in this case.
In June 2022, Forbes reported on how much money the relatives of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev returned to the state: Kairat Boranbaev, Kairat Satybaldi, and his ex-wife Gulmira. For instance, the Prosecutor General's Office stated that these individuals collectively reimbursed around 230 billion tenge as of March 2022, with a significant portion of this amount being abroad — the subjects voluntarily returned over $170 million from Luxembourg.
As of May 2024, Boranbaev returned assets worth 134.5 billion tenge. These include the following companies:
- LLP "AsiaGaz Chundja" — this gas company was valued at 6.4 billion tenge with a market value of 14 billion tenge;
- Comfort Hotel Astana valued at 1.4 billion tenge;
- FitNation fitness club chain with branches in Almaty, Astana, and Kostanay,
- LLP "Unity Hall" along with the building of TRC "Almaly". As of January 6, 2025, the company belongs to LLP "Globex Energy FZE". Media reported that through this LLP, Boranbaev controlled his football club "Kairat";
- LLP "Service Center KazTurboRemont".
In 2022, Kairat Boranbaev, who previously held leading positions on the Forbes lists, disappeared from the rankings. In 2021, Forbes estimated his wealth at $590 million.