In Astana, the hotel complex "Duman" in the city center is being sold through the state auction website. According to media reports, its owners are connected with Dariga Nazarbayeva,  reports . 

The description says that the hotel with a bowling club with a total area of 44,206.5 square meters has 18 floors with a basement. The complex is located on a land plot leased until 2059. These floors house 211 rooms, six business conference halls, two restaurants, and a swimming pool.

Photo: e-auction.gosreestr.kzPhoto: e-auction.gosreestr.kz

The hotel grounds include a spacious reception hall , a fitness club, a trampoline park, a tennis center, as well as a bowling center, bars, coffee shops, an event hall, and night clubs. The lot includes 4,894 units and properties: furniture, office equipment, inventory, etc. 

The cost of the entire complex starts at 13.9 billion tenge. But the seller is of most interest here - TOO "Company for the Management of Returned Assets". That is, in all likelihood, the hotel was sold illegally at one time. And how exactly and to whom it was sold is a separate story. 

Photo: e-auction.gosreestr.kzPhoto: e-auction.gosreestr.kz

Who built it and who sold it to? 

In 2003, the Duman Oceanarium opened in Astana, and a hotel of the same name was built next to it. But the construction stalled. Then former President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed the national company KazMunaiGas to complete the construction of the hotel. As a result, the hotel was completed in 2007.

In the fall of 2014, KazMunaiGas-Service sold the Duman hotel to a private company, TOO Armania (founded in 2013). The property was valued at five billion tenge excluding land lease, but was sold cheaper — for 4.3 billion tenge. Moreover, directly, without holding a tender.

That is, a hotel worth five billion tenge was sold for 4.3 billion 10 years ago, and now they are trying to sell it for almost 14 billion. 

However, in 2022, Armania began a lawsuit against the seller of the hotel, KazMunaiGas-Service, and is trying to recover 1.3 billion tenge from the company, which was allegedly spent on repairs. After the litigation, the Supreme Court makes the opposite decision - to recover 1.4 billion tenge from Armania itself. 

Court statement

 "To reverse the execution of the court decision by collecting from Armania LLP in favor of KazMunaiGas-Service LLP 1,408,201,245 tenge," the ruling of the judicial panel states. 

For reference: reversal of execution of a court decision is a measure applied in the event of a new court decision being issued by a higher court, partially or completely cancelling the enforcement proceedings against the defendant. In this situation, the plaintiff will be obliged to return everything that was received from the defendant within the framework of the cancelled enforcement proceedings.

Kairat Sharipbaev and Dariga Nazarbayeva 

Earlier, our colleagues from Radio Azattyk managed to establish that the ultimate owners of Armania are connected with Kairat Sharipbayev and Dariga Nazarbayeva. 

The head of Armania is Zhaslan Karimov. The founders are two companies: Stroy System Engineering and DLS Group Kazakhstan. The first belongs to the offshore company Tian-Shan Holding Pte.Ltd (which was founded by Astana Group KZ, and it, in turn, by Kairat Sharipbayev).

Floor plan 18

DLS Group Kazakhstan also has two owners. One of them is DLS Group with a single founder. According to journalists from Radio Azattyk, in open sources the line where the founder’s details should be indicated is empty, although in 2015 Dariga Nursultanovna Nazarbayeva was registered there.

According to official data, Armania is engaged in the leasing of premises. Over the 10 years of its existence, the company has paid 432 million tenge in taxes. The legal address of Armania LLP is the Nursaya business center.