Patokh Chodiev
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Patokh Chodiev (also known as Patokh Shodiev) is a London-based Kazakh oligarch with Belgian citizenship who, with Alexander Mashkevich and Alijan Ibragimov, is part of the “Trio,” a group of notorious businessmen who made their fortune through illicit deals in minerals, oil, gas, and banking in Kazakhstan by enlisting the support of its corrupt president Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev. Chodiev is currently ranked #382 on Forbes’ list of world’s billionaires. [1]
Though Chodiev is not currently being detained, he is being prosecuted by Belgian authorities for money laundering, falsifying documents, and bribery. He has also been questioned for his possible association with the murder of a political opponent of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Chodiev was born in Uzbekistan in 1953. He studied international law and Japanese in Moscow, Russia. After his studies, Chodiev worked at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and then lived in Japan for many years. Chodiev later established the Chodiev Group, which has been linked to organized crime in the former Soviet Union (Transworld and the infamous Chernoy brothers, [2], [3] as well as Gafour Rakhimov.)
The Trio and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) With his partners Alexander Mashkevich and Ibragimov, Chodiev also co-owns ENRC, a large Swiss-based mining and metals group which operates a number of metals assets in Kazakhstan and has acquired, through illegal means, numerous mining operations in Eastern Europe and Africa. Last year, ENRC generated an $800 million profit on sales of $2.9 billion. Taken public, it might command a market value of $6 billion. [4]
According to a 2006 Forbes magazine report [5], ENRC is slated for a 2007 London AIM IPO, despite ongoing Belgian prosecutions of its major shareholders—Chodiev, Mashkevich, and Ibragimov. A successful IPO would help the corrupt corporation gain some legitimacy in the West.
[edit] Alferon management
Alferon Management is the Trio’s London-based holding company, overseen by Chodiev’s eldest daughter Mounissa Chodieva. Through Alferon Management, the Trio has acquired dubious mining operations only in countries lacking transparency and corporate governance structures: Zambia, Congo, Indonesia, Kosovo, Russia. Labour union strikes and allegations of corruption surround all of their international investments (the latest example – allegations for paying kickback to government officials in Kosovo.)
The only time the Trio has attempted to invest in a country with a rule of law—Australia—they failed: in 2004, they attempted to take over a publicly traded company in Australia that owns a gold mine in Fiji Islands. Once Australian regulators decided to perform background checks on the owners, the Trio pulled out. The reason: they were advised by their lawyers that they would never pass the check having pending money laundering cases in Belgium, where their assets have been frozen due to the ongoing investigations into their criminal activities. [6]
[edit] Money laundering
[edit] President Nursultan Nazarbayev
The Trio attained phenomenal wealth beginning in the mid-1990s because Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev helped the Trio gained control of the recently privatized chrome, aluminium, and gas operations in Kazakhstan, which are among the largest in the world. It has been suggested that in a period of only a few years, the Trio funnelled over $2B from partially state-owned enterprises in Kazakhstan to private Swiss bank accounts through a bogus bank structure called the Eurasian bank. To cover their tracks, the Trio has reinvested the money into luxury real estate in London. Chodiev alone has invested 20 to 30 million pounds in high-end London properties. The Trio has also posed as a front for President Nazarbayev’s investments in real estate in London.
[edit] Japan Chrome, James Giffen, Nazarbayev
The Trio has also worked with US businessman and former Exxon Mobil executive, James Giffen, who awaits trial in a New York court for his alleged violation of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA.)
The US Department of Justice and Swiss investigators have found that a Trio-owned company registered in the British Virgin Islands, Japan Chrome, transferred millions of dollars to an offshore account of Nazarbayev through one of Giffen’s offshore companies, Hovelon. [7], [8], [9]
[edit] Bribery
[edit] Lakshmi Mittal and Karmet Steelworks
On a 2002 BBC Money Programme, Johannes Sittard, former chief operating officer of Lakshmi Mittal’s steel company Ispat International and chief negotiator of the Karmet deal, admitted that his boss Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal paid $100 million in bribes to Chodiev for his help in acquiring Karmet Steelworks. [10], [11] Sittard also explained that the $100m was paid out over a period of 3-4 years “because it was very important to get help with the local authorities and the tax issues.” [12]
Sittard left Ispat International in 2001 and is currently the frontman for the Trio’s holding company, Alferon Management. He spearheaded Trio’s controversial acquisition of Feronikeli in Kosovo for 16 million pounds less than the other bidder.
Mittal himself was in the middle of a row in England in 2002 over a 125,000 pound bribe paid to Tony Blair’s Labour Party in exchange for a letter to the Romanian leader where Mittal was trying to buy another steel plant. [www.fes.org.zm/publications/investigative.pdf] Chodiev's business partner and long-time friend Alexander Mashkevich has also linked to a 125K bribe to the recently arrested Lord Levy and the Labour Party. [13]
[edit] Tractebel Energy Company
Belgian investigations have alleged that Tracetebel, the Belgian subsidiary of French utility Suez, paid $55m to Chodiev and his partners to help Tractebel “win projects in 1996 and 1997.” Tractebel’s former chief executive has acknowledged the payment of such commissions to the troika. [14] There is still an ongoing investigation of this case in Brussels.
Belgian authorities have also investigated the Trio for money laundering, falsifying documents, and criminal association. Though these charges were filed five years ago, legal proceedings have been slow and the Trio still await pending trials. [15].
The investigations have resulted in an asset freeze of the Trio’s accounts in the Isle of Jersey. [16]
[edit] Feronikeli
Feronikeli is a ferronickel production plant acquired by Alferon Management under the leadership of Johannes Sittard (see below), despite a bid 16 million pounds higher from Adi Nikel. There are allegations that Alferon paid €5 million to Kosovo officials to acquire Feronikeli. [17]
[edit] J&W Investments
J&W Investments, also a Swiss-based subsidiary of Alferon, is also implicated in numerous conspiracies involving bribes to Zambian officials. The Zambian president is believed to have taken bribes from the Trio for the sale of 2 mines in Zambia. [18]
This deal was overseen by the head of J&W Investments, Johannes Sittard, who also oversaw a $100m bribe paid out to Trio member Chodiev for helping Lakshmi Mittal acquire a steel plant in Kazakhstan. [19]
[edit] Other criminal connections
[edit] Murder of Altynbek Sarsenbayev
Following the controversial “political murder” of one of Nazarbayev’s opposition leaders Altynbek Sarsenbayev on February 12, 2006, which some said was masterminded by influential groups in higher echelons of power, the opposition demanded the Kazakhstan Prosecutor’s Office interrogate Chodiev, Mashkevich and Ibragimov. [20], [21]
Due to all of these allegations and investigations, Chodiev, who is married with three children, keeps a very low profile yet still manages his business ventures.
Chodiev owns residences in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as well as in Europe and Russia.
[edit] External links
Trio awaits trial in Belgium: [22]
On Giffen & Nazararbayev & Mashkevich (from Kazhegeldin): [23]
On Giffen & Nazarbayev: [24]
Mashkevich & money laundering: [25]
Mashkevich & money laundering: [26]
Trio & money laundering: [27]
Giffen & Hovelon: [28], [29], [30]
Mittal bribes Tony Blair and Labour Party: [33]
Sittard hired: [34]
Sittard admits paying Trio: [35]
On Tractebel bribe: [36]
Trio questioned in murder: [37], [38]
Trio asset freezes: [39], [40]
Trio’s ENRC seeks IPO: [41]
Alferon owns J&W: [42]
ENRC owns IMR owns Alferon: [43]
The Trio & the Chernoy Brothers: [44]
The Trio & the Reubens: [45]
The Trio & Emperor Mines: [46]
Feronikeli & Adi Nickel: [47], [48]
Forbes magazine on Trio: [49]
