Dala tinisi media describes the story, citing his own research of recommendations given by the members of the Public Chamber for high-profile bills that may contain a corruption component or, at a minimum, a conflict of interest. At the same time, another media Business magazine “Business World Kazakhstan”, referring to the same study mentions the name of Natalya Malyarchuk, a member of the Public Chamber and director of a consulting company providing PR and GR services to private companies.
Among Malyarchuk’s clients may be Yandex. In particular, the amendments to the law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” lobbied by Malyarchuk through the Public Chamber, the adjustment of the concept of “electronic trading platform” in particular, were probably initiated in the interests of the Yandex Marker service, which does business in Kazakhstan.
Malyarchuk could also use her connections in parliament and government to resolve the dispute between Yandex Taxi and the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition in Kazakhstan. Infringement of the rights of drivers resulted in Yandex Taxi being brought to administrative responsibility and making a voluntary contribution of 3 billion tenge to the state fund for supporting the digital ecosystem of Kazakhstan.
Information is provided about Malyarchuk’s work — by the way the former head of the Board of Trustees of Transparency International in Kazakhstan — for the PayDala company, the beneficiary of which is Nurali Aliyev, the grandson of the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the son of his eldest daughter Dariga. It is mentioned that Malyarchuk, already a member of the Public Chamber, received a reward of 41 million tenge (more than $90 000) from PayDala for promoting the company’s interests in the authorities.
Thanks to Malyarchuk’s efforts, PayDala was supposed to gain significant advantages in the gambling market. It became possible after the project of a Betting Center launching, a monopolist that was supposed to take control of all financial and information flows in the market, actually failed. The Betting Center was established in the interests of billionaire Timur Kulibayev, who largely lost his influence after the events of January 2022.
You can also find information on the network about Natalya Malyarchuk’s connections with political scientist Daniyar Ashimbaev — by the way, another member of the Public Chamber under the Mazhilis — and their joint work for billionaire Kenes Rakishev. Rakishev, in turn, is known as Kulibayev’s long-time business partner. It turns out that Natalya Malyarchuk has been providing PR and GR support to members of the Nazarbayev family for a long time and not without benefit for herself.
It’s not yet clear how such work is combined with the status of an expert and member of the Public Chamber under the lower house of the Kazakh parliament? And how should the new Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, who built his career in anti-corruption agencies, react to this?
