Members of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s family were removed from the Forbes Kazakhstan rich list when the publication could no longer verify information about their wealth using publicly available sources, according to Armanzhan Baitassov, entrepreneur and owner of the Forbes franchise in Kazakhstan and Georgia, who shared the insight in a recent interview with journalist Dmitriy Shishkin.
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Shishkin pointed to cases involving Dariga Nazarbayeva and Kairat Satybaldy, Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter and nephew, who appeared on the Forbes Kazakhstan list before later disappearing, despite no apparent public change in their fortunes.
Baitassov said Forbes Kazakhstan compiles its wealth rankings exclusively from publicly available information and removes individuals when their reported assets can no longer be independently verified.
«Forbes’ wealth rankings are based entirely on open sources, and we only publish information that anyone can verify through publicly available data. As soon as questions arise about the information, we take that into account. If we feel we can’t substantiate it, we’d rather not publish it,» he said.
When Shishkin asked whether the publication had lost access to information about the Nazarbayev family, Baitassov declined to discuss specific cases.
«I can’t go into detail now. As far as I remember, Dariga Nazarbayeva was almost always on the list. Perhaps she dropped off once or twice,» he said.
According to Forbes Kazakhstan, Nazarbayeva ranked 13th in 2013 with an estimated fortune of $595 million. She did not reappear on the list until 2022, when she again ranked 13th with an estimated net worth of $594 million.
Questions over Kairat Satybaldy’s fortune
Shishkin also highlighted the case of Satybaldy, who ranked 36th on the 2018 Forbes Kazakhstan list with an estimated fortune of $163 million.
The journalist noted that Satybaldy reportedly owned a 30% stake in Kaspi and sold it the same year. According to Bloomberg, the stake was sold for about $300 million, raising questions about why Forbes estimated his wealth at only about $165 million before removing him from subsequent rankings.
Shishkin also pointed to later developments, noting that after Satybaldy’s legal troubles began, authorities said he voluntarily returned nearly $1.5 billion in assets to the state.
He asked whether that suggested Forbes had underestimated Satybaldy’s wealth by a factor of nearly 10.
Baitassov replied that estimates of private wealth can vary significantly.
«The range can indeed be very wide. There are many people in Kazakhstan who earn substantial amounts of money and are, frankly, wealthy enough to be on the Forbes list. But we can only evaluate what we actually see,» he said.
Wealth must be verifiable
Baitassov said Forbes Kazakhstan does not attempt to estimate assets that cannot be verified through public records.
«The origin of the capital matters. We’re talking about legitimate, transparent money that we can identify and understand. If someone received money from additional, unconventional sources, we don’t see it, and it’s not our job to investigate. We’re not the tax authorities, the financial police or the National Security Committee.»
He added that Forbes applies valuation discounts when estimating the value of privately held companies.
Baitassov also said the publication may calculate the wealth of either an individual family member or an entire family, depending on the circumstances and with the individual’s consent, citing himself as an example.
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Armanzhan Baitassov ranks 60th on the Forbes Kazakhstan rich list with an estimated net worth of $150 million. He owns stakes in Tan Media Group and United Media Group, whose assets include Forbes Kazakhstan, Forbes Georgia, the Arbat Media news agency, Business FM radio, the Businessfm.kz website, the MuzzOne television channel and other assets.
Baitassov is also a co-owner of the telecommunications company Icon LLP and the adtech firm Citix Ltd., which he co-developed with Timur Turlov, who ranks sixth on the Forbes Kazakhstan rich list with an estimated net worth of $5.2 billion.
