• Steve LeVine covers foreign affairs for Business Week. He previously was correspondent for Central Asia and the Caucasus for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for 11 years. His first book, The Oil and the Glory, a history of the former Soviet Union through the lens of oil, was published in October 2007. Putin’s Labyrinth, his new book, profiles Russia through the lives and deaths of six Russians. It was released in June 2008.

    Videos and Podcasts from The Oil and the Glory

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner



    A Blog on Russia, Energy, the Caspian and
    Beyond

    Thursday, November 22, 2007

    Turkmenbashi's Hidden Wealth

    A website I hadn't previously heard of -- Gundogar -- poses one of the most self-evidently important questions I've heard recently: Whatever happened to Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's fortune?

    In her excellent piece, Gulnoza Saidazimova frames the stakes -- billions of dollars -- and the players (mainly German institutions) in the as-yet undisclosed location of Niyazov's presumed wealth.

    We all know, just as a teaser, that the main reason the ultra-important trans-Caspian natural gas pipeline wasn't built during the 1990s was that Niyazov demanded that a $500 million bribe be deposited into his German bank account by the Western project developers, but was rebuffed.

    What about the bribes that were paid? Given the history of the wealth of the world's fallen dictators, and the European banks that protect them, one is led to believe the money won't get back to Turkmenistan soon.

    Labels: , , , , , ,

    posted by Steve at 12:49 AM

    2 Comments:

    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Steve,

    Might this be linked to the stories floating around the Russian press right after the Bash's demise, of his personal banker (Alexander Zhadan) fleeing Ashgabad for points unknown?

    Any word on where he's at nowadays?

    November 23, 2007 7:50 AM  
    Blogger Steve said...

    Hi Anonymous: I have seen no credible word of the location of Zhadan, Niyazov's long-time close aide in the presidential administration.

    That said, the history of such incidents of hidden wealth suggests that the sums bandied about are probably exaggerated, but that the existence of a personal presidential fortune in Deutsche Bank is probably true. This item by Mikhail Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, is interesting: http://www.robertamsterdam.com/
    2006/12/deutsche_bank_and_
    turkmenistan.htm

    This is a highly important theme, one definitely being monitored by the region's other strongmen, all of whom have wealth stashed away in Europe and elsewhere. It will be a pointer for how that wealth is treated once they and their dynastic descendants pass on.

    Thanks for the note and best, Steve

    November 23, 2007 3:49 PM  

    Post a Comment

    Links to this post:

    Create a Link

    << Home