Kazakhstan’s Philanthropist Receives Apology

Kenes Rakishev was quoted by the Euroreporter who wrote, “On 10 August 2022, we published an article which reported that Kenes Rakishev had paid Fabian Baussart a substantial sum of money to obtain the ‘Legion d’Honneur’. This article was a republish ofan article that originally appeared in the French media. We now accept that Mr Rakishev does not hold the ‘Legion d’Honneur’, that there is no evidence to support this and that he did not engage Mr Baussart or any other individual to assist him to obtain it. That article also reported that Mr Rakishev is a “confidant” of Ramzan Kadyrov and may risk US sanctions as a result.  We now accept that Mr Rakishev has had no contact with Mr Kadyrov since 2016 – over a year prior to sanctions being imposed by U.S. Treasury Department in December 2017. Further, we accept that Mr Rakishev fully condemns the actions of Mr Kadyrov that led to him being sanctioned and in no way endorses any of his actions since. We apologise to Mr Rakishev for the errors in our article and are happy to set the record straight.”

So much for the retraction and apologies. In today’s environment a rarity. But what is the backstory of Kenes Rakishevand his philanthropies, whom often acts as a representative of the Kazakh government when dealing with foreign dignitaries. 

Known for his savvy investment in Kazakhstan, married to the former prime minister’s daughter and whose in-laws were former Kazakh diplomats, his sponsorship of Kazakh boxers was well known. The Kazakh athletes received cash certificates for medals at the World Boxing Championships in Istanbul. Kenes Rakishev personally presented prizes, certificates and congratulated the sportswomen.