Eursianet.org had an interesting article early last month on the current mayor (Akim) of Astana. There have been stories about that his family was involved in buying a property from a British royal (Prince Andrew – is that the daffy one, or is that Edward? I can never remember) at an above-market price. Mr Tasmagambetov denied the reports completely, and whether they have any basis in truth or not, the article has an interesting look at the possible motive for the release of these reports.
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Ooops, forgot to link to the actual article. Apologies to anyone who read this in the last 12 hours…