Former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev once sought to buy a villa (previously owned by Mobutu) on the French Riviera, Russian businessman Shalva Chigirinsky said in an interview with journalist Yuri Dud.
Chigirinsky originally purchased the property in 2001 for $14.5 million. After leaving Russia, he sold it to Gazprom Neft, one of Russia’s largest state-owned oil producers, for $70 million, a price he said reflected extensive renovations.
«I was offered much more for it, even half a billion,» Chigirinsky said. «Nazarbayev’s people came. They wanted to buy a summer residence for him in the south of France. They needed a helipad, two swimming pools and many bedrooms. This villa is unique in every way. There are simply no others like it.»
The villa had previously belonged to Mobutu Sese Seko, the longtime dictator of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), who ruled from 1965 to 1997. Chigirinsky said the estate included a bunker built for Mobutu, which he later converted into a wine cellar.
Currently, the property is rented but remains under legal arrest.
