The Khrapunovs press charges for espionage

The family say they have been victims of computer attacks by Kazakh authorities.

Translation of the article: Le Temps – Les Khrapunov portent plainte pour espionnage.

When the federal adviser Johann Schneider-Ammann opened an official visit to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on Wednesday, the hidden war between the Kazakh authorities and the Khrapunov family was underway. Two penal suits were opened in January in Geneva and Zurich after a complaint was filed for “unlawful access to a computer system”, “data harvesting” and “actions illegally carried out for a foreign government”.

The charges were filed by Viktor Khrapunov and by the Lalive legal firm employee in Zurich, who works for the former Kazakh minister. A third complaint was filed by an attorney of Leila Khrapunova’s, the wife of Viktor Khrapunov.

According to the plaintiffs, Kazakh authorities are behind these attacks. Viktor Khrapunov’s communication manager, consultant Marc Comina accuses: “Spy viruses have been attempted to be placed several times onto the computers of Viktor Khrapunov and his attorneys”. “It can’t be anything else,” the Geneva attorney told us, who filed a complaint and prefers to remain anonymous. The names of the Khrapunov children are mentioned in the subject line of compromising emails, which were clearly meant for us only”.

For Marc Comina, “it is shocking to see that the Kazakh government, which constantly makes government propaganda and espionage, shamelessly uses the same authoritarian and antidemocratic methods in Switzerland with the aim of intimidating opponents to the regime.” Jean-Bernard Schmid, the attorney in charge of the case simply says that “the issues denounced are not without consequence. An investigation is underway.”

War of words

The Khrapunov family, which comprises the couple and their adult children Elvira and Iliya, is itself being investigated for money laundering, a case that was opened last autumn. The Geneva Public Prosecutor granted the request for legal mutual aid made by Kazakhstan in the spring of 2012. Viktor Khrapunov is accused of using his position to let his wife get rich in real estate operations.

In this story, each of the parties are trying to play their cards right. In February and March, the Zurich-based law firm Homburger, which was mandated by the Kazakh authorities for its public relations, approached German-Swiss newspapers, including laNZZ, to show them the documents linked with the request for legal mutual aid. Le Temps contacted Homburger this Wednesday, and they declined to respond.

For Marc Comina, the Kazakh prosecution may have another motive besides corruption. Its client “has given several interviews in the West and in the rare independent Kazakh media to denounce the government’s current and past actions, especially the systematic pillage of government infrastructure and resources. For the Kazakh government, which has invested billions in big international campaigns to spruce up its image abroad, it is preventing it from running around in circles, and must be silenced.” The marriage of the son Iliyas to the daughter of billionaire Mukhtar Abliyasov, the opponent to President Nursultan Nazarbaiev, who has been in power for 22 years, hasn’t help things any. Iliyas Khrapunov is known in Switzerland for his extravagant real estate projects. His father was a minister and the mayor of the former capital before fleeing to Geneva (LT, Dec. 28, 2011)

Will Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbaiev bring this up with Johann Schneider-Ammann? The purpose of the trip is clear: “Strengthen economic ties with these partners who are ever more important and who are members of the Swiss voting group in Bretton Woods institutions”, said the Federal Department of the Economy on Tuesday.

At its last parlementary session, national advisor Carlo Sommaruga (PS/GE) called upon the Federal Council to know “how human rights made it onto the agenda of this trip”. The spokesperson for the DEFR, Eric Reumann said Wednesday that “Switzerland has always preoccupied with reminding of the values of a democratic society.”