Voice of Democracy
Published by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation · Washington, D.C. · June 4, 2004

THE BAGMAN DEFENSE -- You've got to give credit to James H. Giffen or his lawyers for creative defense strategies. First, the man accused of funneling $78 million in bribes to Kazakh leaders said he did nothing wrong because he was acting as a CIA operative; his latest line is that he was just an innocent bagman for the Kazakh dictator. In court yesterday where Giffen formally entered a not guilty plea, his lawyer asked U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III to drop the corruption, tax evasion and conspiracy charges because Giffen's actions were "authorized and directed" by Kazakh officials. He is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 4 in U.S. District Court in New York in connection with $78 million in bribes he allegedly paid to President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his oil minister by depositing in secret bank accounts in Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands controlled by the two officials and often going for their private use. Prosecutors say the money came from Western oil companies seeking drilling rights in Kazakhstan. Giffen's lawyer said the New York investment banker was acting on behalf of Kazakhstan and "carrying out the acts of that sovereignty," reported the Down Jones News Service. In an earlier court filing, Giffen tried to get charges dismissed by contending that he had been working in close contact with the CIA and unnamed other American intelligence agencies, and they had approved the payments. http://www.djnewswires.com/

'I AM NOT A CROOK' -- When the head of a foreign government collects bribes, payoffs and kickbacks from an American company as the price of doing business in his country, is that illegal? Yes, says the U.S. Justice Department, it is a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and probably several other criminal statutes. No, says the Kazakhstan government, it's just an internal matter for Kazakhs, and besides, his parliaments has given the president immunity for life from any criminal prosecution. This may sound simplistic but it is at the heart of a dispute between the United States and Kazakhstan that already has resulted in the virtually unprecedented move of naming a foreign head of state as the bribe recipient in a criminal corruption case in U.S. District Court. And it could result in the indictment by federal prosecutors of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been accused of soliciting and receiving bribes from Western oil companies via his American financial advisor (see item above). Nazarbayev says the money was for official purposes, but federal prosecutors say some of it went for his daughter’s tuition at Swiss and American schools as well as for fur coats, jewelry and his-and-her snowmobiles for the dictator and his wife.

WITNESS PROTECTION -- The U.S. Justice Department is opposing a request by lawyers for James H. Giffen to turn over their list of government witnesses for their client's corruption trial. Prosecutors cite concern for the personal safety of the witnesses, telling the court that at least one possible witness has reported death threats, according to sources who attended Giffen's hearing in federal court earlier this week. Some of the witnesses are in Kazakhstan, but others live outside the country out of concern for their personal safety. The judge has said he will rule later on the request for the witness list, Reuters reported. http://www.reuters.com/news

WHAT ME WORRY? -- Nazarbayev's lawyers and hired lobbyists in Washington have tried to persuade the Bush administration to drop any investigation of him and his government because they play such an “important role” for the United States in the war against terror and the need for additional oil resources. They've also tried unsuccessfully to convince the U.S. Justice Department not to allow the mention of Nazarbayev in the judicial proceedings. In fact, he told a Russian interviewer, he had nothing to do with the Kazakhgate bribery scandal, despite U.S. federal court documents filed by the Justice Department specifically naming him. The real criminal, according to the Kazakh dictator, is not the one who solicited the bribes or distributed the payoffs for the government officials like himself who received them, but his arch rival, the head of the pro-democracy movement. The questionable oil deals and related bribes were actually a "boon" to the country, Nazarbayev insisted, and "all the rest is insinuation, provocation, and manipulation organized by our fugitive former Prime Minister Kazhegeldin." Nazarbayev, who tried to have Kazhegeldin seized by his agents while attending a Congressional hearing in Washington, has accused his chief rival of various charges and convicted him in absentia on what most international observers called trumped up charges and a rigged trial. Kazhegeldin is forced to live abroad with heavy security. http://www.vremya.ru/

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