KAZAKHSTAN HANDS OVER NON-PAPER AND COURT DOSSIER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000065 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL, H ZFR ZFR ZFR ZFR ZFR ENTIRE MESSAGE -- RESENT IN ERROR E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/24/2028 TAGS: PGOV PREL PROP KCRM KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN HANDS OVER NON-PAPER AND COURT DOSSIER ON RAKHAT ALIYEV REF: A. ASTANA 2457 ¶B. ASTANA 2450 ¶C. ASTANA 2445 ¶D. ASTANA 2362 (NODIS ¶E. NOTAL) ASTANA 00000065 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland: 1.4 (B),(D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: A government of Kazakhstan non-paper alleges that President Nursultan Nazarbayev's exiled ex-son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev has hired U.S. public relations firms to build the case that he is a political dissident standing up to a tyrannical and corrupt Nazarbayev, with the ultimate goal of gaining political asylum in the United States. We caution against seeing Aliyev as a "democratic golden boy." Likely as corrupt as anyone else in the inner-circle of the ruling elite, he is involved in a monumental power struggle with his ex-father-in-law. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) As follow-up to the Ambassador's December 10 meeting with Presidential Chief of Staff Aslan Musin (reftel B), Deputy Foreign Minister Khairat Sarybay called in the Ambassador on December 23 to present the "further information" on President Nazarbayev's exiled ex-son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev Musin had promised to provide. Sarybay handed over a non-paper in English and Russian and copies in Russian of the proceedings of the two trials that convicted Aliyev in absentia. The Ambassador confirmed the government of Kazakhstan does not expect an official response to the non-paper, although Sarybay said any response from the U.S. side, including further information on Aliyev's activities, would be welcome. Ambassador thanked Sarybay for the non-paper and dossier, and reiterated the United States has no contact, and wants no contact, with Aliyev; we want the widest space possible between us and him. Lightly edited text of the non-paper follows. ¶3. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT: Non-paper December 23, 2008 The aim of this document is to expose the activity of Rakhat Aliyev who is hiding abroad from Kazakhstan's justice. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in Kazakhstan for grave crimes. The details of the charges against him can be found in the attached copies of the courts' verdicts. Rakhat Aliyev has been actively involved in discrediting Kazakhstan's internal and external policies. In order to achieve his goals, he uses a number of U.S. legal and consulting companies, such as Baker and Hostetler LLC, The Ashcroft Group, and Kroll Inc. With the help of the above-mentioned companies, Rakhat Aliyev tries to undermine Kazakhstan's reputation in the eyes of the U.S. executive and legislative authorities and the American public through spreading falsified documents. However, Rakhat Aliyev's criminal records, and the fact that he is wanted by Kazakh and international law-enforcement agencies, is carefully hidden. In contrast, he is portrayed as a "political dissident," which contradicts the truth. A number of materials, concerning Kazakhstan's leadership have been sent by Rakhat Aliyev with the help of Baker and Hostetler LLC to various U.S. law-enforcement agencies -- in particular, to the District Prosecutor of New York City Robert Morgenthau and to the FBI. These (public relations) companies have also helped Rakhat Aliyev to spread false information about Kazakhstan's political and economic situations among the leading U.S. ASTANA 00000065 002.2 OF 002 media, such as "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Washington Times." Besides that, some attempts were noted to establish contacts with "The New York Times," "The Los Angeles Times," and TV channels like CNBC and CBS, as well as others. Rakhat Aliyev is also trying to obtain support from the U.S. Administration and from officials of Congress in order to convince them to take a negative stance on Kazakhstan's Chairmanship in the OSCE in 2010, to doubt Kazakhstan's democratic and human rights records, and to question the Kazakhstan-U.S. strategic partnership. All of these steps taken by Rakhat Aliyev are aimed to help him to escape justice, portray himself as a "victim" of political persecution, and, if possible, to get U.S. protection (political asylum). This information will allow the U.S. government to understand the real motives of Rakhat Aliyev, whose reputation is well known by the public in Kazakhstan, and who is trying hard to escape from inevitable justice with the help of some American companies that he hired with illegally obtained money. END TEXT. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: That Aliyev might have hired Western PR companies rings true to us, especially because articles in "The Washington Times" and, especially, "The Wall Street Journal" have been decidedly pro-Aliyev and anti-Nazarbayev. We caution against seeing Aliyev as a "democratic golden boy." Likely as corrupt as anyone else in the inner-circle of the ruling elite, he is involved in a monumental power struggle with his ex-father-in-law. To the government of Kazakhstan, we will continue to maintain the position that we have no contact with Aliyev and want no contact with him. END COMMENT. HOAGLA ND