Dariga Nazarbayeva

Dariga Nazarbayeva started her career in 1992, when she became the Vice-President of the Bobek Children’s Charity Fund established by her mother Sara Nazarbayeva. The Fund became the first organization in independent Kazakhstan to help children.[5]

In 1994, Dariga Nazarbayeva became the Vice-President of the Television and Radio of Kazakhstan Republican Corporation. In 1995, the Khabar TV channel was created based on the information service of Kazakh TV. Run by Dariga Nazarbayeva, Khabar managed to develop its own correspondent network, acquire the latest equipment and take a leading position among the country’s TV channels. In addition to Khabar, the organisations associated to Dariga Nazarbayeva purchased the Europa Plus Radio Station, KTK and NTK television companies and popular newspaper Сaravan. TV-Media and Alma-Media companies were established to manage the new media holding.[5]

In 1998, Khabar was transformed into a closed joint-stock company, and Nazarbayeva took the post of the President of the Company, and in 2001, the position of the Chairperson of the Board of Directors. In interviews, she often noted that she thought of the TV channel as "her child".[5]

In 1999, the first retro festival Alma-Ata is My First Love! under Nazarbayeva’s patronage took place at the Alatau Resort; the festival was organized by the Khabar Agency. The main idea of the festival was to preserve the spiritual connection between the generations of Almaty residents, support the status of Almaty as the cultural center of the country and reproduce the spiritual atmosphere and unique culture of the city of the 1960s-early 1980s.[6]

In June 2001, at the World Congress on Information Cooperation Information: The 21st Century Challenge, Nazarbayeva proposed to establish a permanent Eurasian Media Forum. She noted that the participants could discuss the issues of creating the Eurasian information space, the relations between the government and the media and the ethical standards of journalism. The first Eurasian Media Forum was held in April 2002 in Almaty; the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the Forum by delivering a welcome speech.[7]

In 2002, the first Congress of Journalists of Kazakhstan opened; on April 27, Nazarbayeva was elected as the Chairperson of the Executive Committee at the meeting of the initiative group of the Congress of Journalists of Kazakhstan. The Congress raised the issue of creating a code of ethics for journalists in the country for the first time.[5]

Since 2007, Nazarbayeva has been the Director of the Foundation of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, engaged in public and charity activities, participated in international conferences and symposia. The Foundation operates in three main areas: 1) youth programs (help to unleash and realize the intellectual and creative potential of Kazakhstan's youth supporting their researches and projects and holding scientific and creative events); 2) social projects and charity; 3) an analytical center – Institute of World Economics and Politics.

Since the late 1990's, Nazarbayeva has regularly appeared on the screens of Kazakh TV channels as a singer, given many charity concerts, including on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Her repertoire includes Kazakh folk songs, Russian romances, opera arias and songs by Joe Dassin. According to Nazarbayeva, her voice was trained by a professional teacher of the Almaty Opera Nadiya Sharipova who brought up the famous tenor Alibek Dnishev.

Nazarbayeva's first solo concert "But Still I Love" was held in Almaty in May 2001, all the proceeds from the concert went towards of veterans of the Great Patriotic War. A year later, in Almaty, a second solo concert, "Singing Again", took place.

In the summer of 2003, by the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, she gave a recital in the Beethoven Hall at the Bolshoi Theater.

In 2007, Nazarbayeva held a recital in Paris.

In 2009, on behalf of and with the support of Nazarbayeva, the Asar-Bereke Public Fund implemented a project to provide qualified medical services to residents of Kazakhstan's regions, and thousands of specialists were trained for mobile medical complexes capable of working in emergency situations. Since 2019, the Asar-Bereke Public Foundation has been creating conditions for children with cancer by examining and treating them at the Nuclear Therapy Center in St. Petersburg.[8]

On 1 December 2011, Nazarbayeva gave a recital “Salem, Russia” in Moscow on the new stage in the Bolshoi Theater, and on 14 December in the Organ Hall of Astana.[9] A Russian company Universal Music filmed her concert performances at various venues for the musical television movie My Star. The two-part film was presented in February 2012 in Almaty as part of the Together Against Cancer charity project, and in Moscow on 20 April 2012.[10][11]

In June 2012, on the initiative of the Degdar Foundation, the First International Festival of Arts Astana Keshteri (“Evenings of Astana”) was held which was a charity project aimed at making high art as accessible as possible and giving all social groups the opportunity to join masterpieces of world music culture. Within the framework of the project, Nazarbayeva and Alibek Dnishev, Russian organist Rubin Abdullin, pianist Timur Urmancheev, conductor Renat Salavatov, young opera singers Medet Chotabaev and Andrey Tregubenko demonstrated their performance. Tickets for the concert were distributed for free.[12]

On 13 May 2013, she gave a concert, co-organized by Count Pierre Sheremetev, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, with the Orchestre Lamoureux directed by Dmitry Yablonsky and the Sazgen sazi group directed by Baghdat Tilegenov, and with some artists as the pianist Timur Urmancheev,[13] Sundet Baigozhin or Medet Chotabaev. Among the audience were Aleksandr Orlov, Ambassador of Russia to France, other ambassadors, diplomats or investors, and French writer Jean-Pierre Thiollet.

221B Baker Street, also known as the Sherlock Holmes Museum, is believed to be owned by Nazarbayeva

On 21 June 2018, it was revealed by the Panama Papers that Nazarbayeva was the sole shareholder of an off-shore sugar company based in the British Virgin Islands which did business in Kazakhstan. Her son, Nurali, was also named in the papers as being a client of Mossack Fonseca in Panama, and having two companies and luxury yacht also registered in the British Virgin Islands.[14][15] According to Newsweek, "this is a sharp contradiction from Nazarbayev’s frequent appeals to entrepreneurs in the oil-rich country to pay taxes in Kazakhstan."[15]

The Panama Papers also suggest she may be the owner, through an off-shore company, of 221B Baker Street, the $183 million property famous as being the fictional address of Sherlock Holmes.[16]

On 10 March 2020, a British court announced the names of the owners of properties worth $100 million, which were issued an UWO in the spring of 2019. The owners turned out to be Nazarbayeva and her eldest son, Nurali Aliyev, with his wife Aida. The representative of the defendants at the hearing explained that the owners can confirm the source of the funds, since at that time they were engaged in business.[17] In April, the High Court of Justice declared the claims by the British law enforcement agencies unfounded and as a result, the case was overturned.[18]

On the same day her father stepped down as the President of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayeva was appointed as the Chair of the Senate in a unanimous secret ballot.[38] She succeeded Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in that role, who was appointed acting president of the country.[38] According to The New York Times, this may have been a signal that Nazarbayeva was being groomed to become president herself.[39]

On 2 May 2020, she was removed from the Senate and her role as the Chair by President Tokayev.[40] Many theories arose that either Tokayev was expanding his political influence or a sign of growing feud between the Kazakhstan's ruling elite.[41]

Nazarbayeva's former husband, Rakhat Aliyev in 2007

Nazarbayeva had a long marriage to Kazakh businessman and politician Rakhat Aliyev until their divorce in June 2007. Aliyev held senior posts in Kazakhstan's domestic intelligence agency and foreign ministry, and later as ambassador to Austria.[39] In 2004, a woman alleged to be Aliyev's mistress was found dead, having fallen from a tall apartment building in Beirut.[39] He was stripped of his titles in 2007 after critiquing President Nazarbayev for altering the nation's constitution to allow him to be president for life.[39] Aliyev claimed that his divorce was executed without his consent, and that it was forced by Nazarbayev.[42]

Aliyev was convicted in absentia for various crimes in Kazakhstan. Austria refused to extradite him, but were preparing to try him for the kidnapping and murder of two Kazakh bank officials.[39] Before the trial, he was founded dead in his Austrian jail cell due to alleged suicide.[39]

Nazarbayeva has two sons with Aliyev, Nurali and Aisultan, and a daughter Venera.[43] She is also a grandmother. Nurali's wife gave birth to Laura Aliyeva in 2013.[44]

On 23 January 2020, Nazarbayeva's son, Aisultan, made a public statement on his Facebook page, claiming that his grandfather Nazarbayev was allegedly his dad and that his mother Nazarbayeva has been attempting to kill him while living in London.[45] Nazarbayeva made no responses regarding the case made by her son. The next day on 24 January, a female correspondent from the RFE/RL attempted to receive response from Nazarbayeva regarding her son's claims as she was walking by in the Parliament building hallway where one of Nazarbayeva's security guards ended up grabbing the reporter by the arm and covering her mouth.[46] On 16 August 2020, Aisultan was found dead in London. The cause of his death was apparently due to cardiac arrest.[47] In response to his death, Nazarbayeva stated "My family is devastated at the loss of our beloved Aisultan and we ask for privacy at this very difficult time."[48]

According to Forbes Magazine in 2013 her wealth was about $595 million. It was through her involvement in the companies such as Europe Plus Kazakhstan JSC, NTK, AlmaInvestHolding, Almatystroysnab LLP, and ALMA TV.[49] She also founded Kazakhstan's main TV network, Khabar Agency.[50]