No case of asset recovery from the Republic of Kazakhstan is known. The following cases could possibly be examples of MLA or useful for the profiles of other countries. The descriptions of facts are based on different sources and still need to be double checked.

I. Kazakh-Gate

Mercator Corporation was a small merchant bank with offices in New York and the Republic of Kazakhstan. It was founded in 1984 for the purposes of arranging transactions in the Soviet Union. After 1991 the transactions were shifted to Kazakhstan, which then became an independent country.

James H. Giffen was the Chairman of the Mercator Corporation and as from 1992 represented and advised the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan in various capacities, generally involving the negotiations and sale of interests in Kazakh natural resources. Giffen and the Kazakh Ministry of Oil and Gas Industry executed a comprehensive advisory agreement pursuant to which Mercator was to advise the Ministry on strategic planning, the development of foreign investment projects relating to the exploration, development, production, transportation and proceeding of oil and gas.

In exchange for this services Mercator would get a retainer fee and success fee for any transaction in which it participated and Giffen was given various titles by Kazakh Government, including Councilor to the President. American prosecution alleged that a high official in the Kazakh Government allowed Giffen to remain on his position which involved him in a number of oil and gas development projects to ensure that he transferred large amounts of money derived from oil deals into accounts whose beneficial owners were senior Kazakh officials (KO1 and KO2). Giffens' and Mercator's positions depended on their favor. 

In particular, in 1995 and 1996 Giffen and Mercator received from Mobil Oil Corporation tens of millions US dollars on their Citibank account in New York which finally landed on Swiss Bank accounts on the names of different offshore companies controlled separately by Giffin, KO1 and KO2.

In the fall of 1999 the Kazakh government accused a former Prime-Minister of embezzling several millions US dollars of governmental funds into offshore accounts that he controlled. Kazakh authorities contacted Swiss authorities to examine his possible role in the looting of those assets. Swiss prosecutors opened an inquiry on the case and froze the assets on the accounts concerned. At the same time federal authorities in New York advised by Swiss authorities that the accounts may violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act launched an investigation of their own. They reviewed the transaction in 2000 and noticed that Giffen was party to many of them. On the basis of the mutual legal assistance between the Swiss and US governments the investigators uncovered a pattern of transactions between Kazakhstan and American and European oil companies. The detailed records of those transactions proved their criminal nature.

 1. Outcomes:

1. James H. Giffen, a New York banker indicted in 2003 on charges of unlawfully paying over $78 million to two senior Kazakh officials, in violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The investigation is still on going.
2. Akezhan Kazhegeldin, former Prime-Minister of Kazakhstan from 1994 to 1997 and leader of the oppositional Kazakh Republican People's Party was sentenced in absentia to 10 years hard labor in September on charges of abuse of office, tax evasion, taking bribes, and illegal possession of weapons. The opposition has called the trial a farce, while the office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Kazakhstan has expressed doubt that the sentence conforms to international standards of justice. Akezhan Kazhegeldin received a so-called Passport of Freedom at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. He is currently living in self-imposed exile in Europe1.
3. Although the beneficiaries of the frozen accounts were identified no further inquiries were initiated by Kazakh authorities.
4. Approximately $84 million of the recovered funds will be used for development projects involving impoverished children and youth in Kazakhstan. The funds currently held in Switzerland will be released under the monitoring of an independent foundation created in Kazakhstan under the agreement of three Governments – Kazakhstan, Switzerland and the USA – and with the World Bank support2.

II. Siemens

According to the Wall Street Journal Reports3. Reinhard Siekaczek, a former manager of Siemens was indicted by a Munich Court on counts of embezzlement. He admitted to the prosecutors giving bribes to public officials in Nigeria, Russia and Libya as Siemens sought to win lucrative contracts for telecommunications equipment. According to separate court records, he knows about bribes paid in more countries. When interviewed by the police in 2006 he told Munich prosecutors about those briberies made by Siemens. Kazakh newspaper "Business&Power" reported on 9 February 2007 that according to the interrogation materials published by the Wall Street Journal Mr. Siekaczek stated paying bribes to public officials in Kazakhstan in 1999-2000 through a special bribe fund using a bank account in Austria. A former Governor of the central bank and former Vice-prime Minister of Kazakhstan said that it is necessary that Kazakh financial police contact the German and US authorities and in cooperation with them initiate parallel investigations concerning Siemens. For over 10 years Siemens was involved in several major projects in Kazakhstan, including the constructions of the international airport in Astana and a number of pipeline constructions and communication infrastructures. Kazakh financial police argues however, that they need an official statement from foreign investigators to start the procedure4.