Desperate or housewife?

KUALA LUMPUR: The woman who is accused of conning Bolat Nazarbayev, brother of the president of Kazakhstan, says they are still married and that allegations about her and her son Daniyar Nazarbayev are “all made up”.

Maira Nazarbayeva said in an interview with the New York Post, published on June 14, that allegations said to have been made by Bolat, brother of Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev, were not only false but were to her knowledge not even made by Bolat himself.

“I consider myself married and in a good relationship with my husband,” she told the paper. “And I’ve never seen a document related to divorce. I’ve never signed anything nor have I received anything.”

She said she had spoken to Bolat and that he had been “in shock to learn about this lawsuit”, referring to papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court alleging Maira and her son Daniyar had conned Bolat out of his USD $20 million apartment at The Plaza – which happened to be the setting of her interview with the New York Post.

The allegations first came to light in April when an article by the same writer, Dareh Gregorian, appeared in The New York Post, describing court papers in which Bolat claimed Maira and Daniyar had swindled him, and that even his marriage to Maira was fraudulent.

“The suit says she and her son hatched their scheme in 2008, when Nazarbayev was looking to buy an apartment in New York,” Gregorian wrote. “He settled on an 18th floor condo in The Plaza, and says that his wife and stepson convinced him to give them power of attorney to consummate the deal.

“The suit says Daniyar was supposed to put the apartment solely in his stepdad’s name, but added his mom’s name to the property as well. About eight months later he used the power of attorney to sell the apartment to himself ‘for no consideration’,” Gregorian wrote, quoting the legal documents.

Another article in The Post on June 11 highlighted claims made in the same court filing that Daniyar had lied to get into Columbia University and that the marriage between his mother and Bolat (who is not his father) was annulled in 2011.

That article generated some buzz in Malaysia because Daniyar is engaged to Nooryana Najwa, daughter of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Official Pas organ Harakah highlighted the allegations reported by The Post and added that Daniyar had “used his good looks to woo Nooryana Najwa”.

“Daniyar Nazarbayev's American adventure is a tale that puts to shame even the mighty Borat, the fictional Kazakh TV producer who lampooned the former Soviet republic on screen in 2006,” read the article in Harakah.

Malaysian blogger Milo Suam also highlighted the claims allegedly made by Bolat, including the allegation that Daniyar is in hiding and that his mother is wanted by Interpol and authorities in Kazakhstan.

According to the blogger, the New York Post article strengthens an earlier article from Kazakhstan which he said suggested Maira had been involved in the kidnapping of one of her business partners in that country.

According to the June 14 New York Post article, however, Maira is “no apartment-stealing international fugitive grafter – she’s just a real housewife of New York”.

 The article quoted Maira as saying there was “no funny business” at play in either her marriage to Bolat or the purchase of the luxury condo in New York.

As for allegations that Daniyar had cheated his way into Columbia, she said “The story is all made up,” according to The Post.

“They are very saddened by the news that is coming out in the press about all these unsubstantiated claims,” she was quoted as saying about her son and Nooryana Najwa.

During the interview she also denied that she was wanted for crimes in Kazakhstan. “I had lived and worked as a housewife during my relationship in Kazakhstan with my husband,” she was quoted as saying. “There is no factual basis for this information.”

The writer said, “While The Post has seen what appeared to be an official Interpol ‘wanted’ notice for Maira, her spokesman, Ronn Torossian, noted that she’d travelled abroad in recent weeks without incident, and planned to again in coming days.”

Source: MOLE