The daughter of the Central Asia country's former leader is upgrading a $115 million Swiss lakeside château amid speculation that her father may need a place to stay soon.
Dinara Kulibayeva, the daughter of Kazakhstan's ex-leader, is renovating Château de Bellerive, a luxury property in Geneva she bought for 106 million Swiss francs ($115 million) in 2019, «Tages-Anzeiger» (behind paywall, in German) reported on Wednesday.
She is the middle daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled in oil-rich Kazakhstan until 2019. Kulibayeva, with her husband, Timur Kulibayev, controls Kazakhstan's biggest bank. Dinara Kulibayeva holds Swiss residency, the Swiss outlet reported, citing sources and public deeds.
Unrest In Almaty
She is gaining prominence because Kazazkstan has been rocked with unrest in recent weeks. At least 225 people were killed, mainly in Almaty, and Russian troops have been called in.
Nazarbayev himself has not been spotted in several weeks, the «Guardian» reported this week, though he appeared in a video address on Tuesday, «Reuters» reported. His daughter first settled in Switzerland in 2007, in Ticino, by opening a business in Switzerland, «Tages-Anzeiger» reported.
Swiss Flat-Tax Deal
She later moved to Geneva, where she enjoys the type of flat-tax deal that are increasingly popular with the world's wealthy, as Swiss cantons vie for billionaires to take up residency. She has spoken to the press only once – in 2016, to French-language outlet «Bilan», which didn't address the source of her wealth.
Kulibayeva may be preparing lakeside château for her father to go into exile, the «Guardian» speculated. The Genevan mansion is one of a string of real estate purchased by members of the Nazarbaev clan, including in Manhattan, London, and Spain’s Costa Brava, «Radio Free Europe» reported.
Uzbek Similarities
Dinara Kulibayeva's Swiss residency is reminiscent of that of Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbekistan's former leader. Karimova lived in Geneva for a time, as Uzbekistan's representative at the United Nations.
She was later indicted in a telecoms corruption scheme, fell out with her father, and is currently imprisoned in Tashkent. Switzerland is currently attempting to return several hundred million that was held in Swiss bank accounts to Karimova.
