A fresh scandal over double-selling of housing has erupted in Almaty, where 28 families who fully paid for townhouses in the IRIS residential complex — a total of over 1.359 billion tenge — discovered that their homes had been re-registered to third parties and pledged to a bank. Now, buyers are effectively being asked to repurchase their own property. A similar situation occurred earlier with the Tau-Koktem complex, now known as Silver Hills, where investors have spent 20 years unable to obtain either apartments or refunds, reports infohub.kz.
The latest outrage stems from the plight of 28 families in the IRIS complex, located in the Karagaily microdistrict. Buyers claim they made full payments for townhouses during the construction phase, transferring a total of more than 1.359 billion tenge to the developer. Prices for individual homes ranged from 44 million to 70 million tenge. The developer promised completion in 2022 but missed deadlines. In late 2023 and early 2024, some buyers received keys, signed acceptance certificates, and were allowed to begin renovations. Over ten families invested in finishing work and moved in, although the complex still lacked gas and proper landscaping.
Residents say they only learned in May 2025 that the property had been registered to others, when representatives of Bank CenterCredit showed up. According to lawyer Anar Katebayeva, who represents the investors, 22 homes were registered to eight individuals linked to the developer's circle and then pledged to the bank. The buyers' representatives say the bank issued loans worth over 1.5 billion tenge secured by this property. Now the financial institution is demanding full repayment of the collateral. Investors claim they are effectively being asked to buy back homes they already paid for in full.
In November 2025, the buyers filed a police complaint. Law enforcement is now investigating a criminal case for embezzlement on an especially large scale, and the director of the developer company, Kair Topolov, has been arrested. The victims are demanding an investigation not only of the developer but also of the nominal owners of the homes, appraisers, business partners, and bank employees involved in processing the loans.
The IRIS case is not the first in Almaty where people fully paid for housing only to later find their apartments or homes transferred to other owners. For nearly two decades, a similar conflict has dragged on over the Tau-Koktem complex, later completed, renamed Silver Hills, and effectively sold a second time. Construction of the elite complex in the Remizovka microdistrict began in 2006, undertaken by Building Service LLP. The company promised 12 homes in the Almaty foothills and raised over 6 billion tenge from investors. Simultaneously, the developer opened four credit lines at Nur Bank (then owned by Rakhat Aliyev) totaling $92.5 million.
Despite the funds raised, construction was never completed. Work halted after a few years, leaving dozens of families without the apartments they had paid for. Some buyers had taken out mortgages and, according to investor representative Andrey Kaznacheyev, continued making payments years later for apartments they could never move into.
Later, investigators found that Building Service management had siphoned off construction funds. The case file included contracts with subcontractors through which large sums were transferred, though no documents confirming the work were found. One such episode involved BTA-Investstroygroup LLP, headed by Timur Konakbayev. In 2008, the company was awarded a contract for concrete and cladding work. However, the case file contained no work completion certificates or technical supervision reports, yet payments continued. Konakbayev later left his post, and actual management of the company allegedly passed to Igor Zhakov himself, though no official changes were registered with the justice authorities. Apart from cash payments, the case also mentioned the transfer of a car worth 15 million tenge to Konakbayev.
In 2020, a court found Igor Zhakov guilty of embezzling investors' funds and sentenced him to six years in prison. But the story of the complex did not end there. After construction halted, the unfinished building and land passed to creditors. In late 2017, Building Service transferred the asset to collection agency JA Collection Company for 50 million tenge. The same day, the agency resold it to Kok Baiterek LLP for 56 million tenge. Notably, the nearly completed complex was documented as unfinished construction materials. An independent expert appraisal, cited by investor representatives, valued the property at no less than 4.5 billion tenge.
Some investors hoped the new owner would complete construction and hand over their paid-for apartments. Lawyer Yuri Ku/v/shinnikov was a key figure in negotiations. He had previously represented defrauded buyers in disputes with the original developer and attended meetings where people were promised help in obtaining their homes. Later, Ku/v/shinnikov became head of Kok Baiterek LLP, the company that purchased the unfinished project. The new owner re-registered documents, completed construction, and renamed the complex Silver Hills. In March 2023, the complex was officially commissioned. However, apartments were not transferred to the original investors. The new owner claimed that Building Service's obligations had not passed to them. Subsequently, the completed complex's apartments were sold to new clients.
Thus, the same property was effectively sold twice: first to Tau-Koktem investors in the mid-2000s, and then to new buyers under the Silver Hills brand. The initial investors were left without apartments and largely unable to recover their funds.
After construction stopped, some investors and major backers tried to form a housing cooperative and resolve the completion issue themselves. This led to a new conflict with Igor Zhakov. The former developer claimed that some participants tried to obtain apartments without payment and essentially take over the project. However, criminal case materials, accounting documents, and expert findings showed that at least some of these investors had indeed paid money into Building Service's cash register.
In particular, the case involved businessman and former Almaty maslikhat deputy Galym Sadibekov. According to documents, between 2006 and 2009 he fully paid for several apartments, parking spaces, and storage units through trusted persons. The cost of individual property packages was 118.6 million, 72.8 million, and 40.7 million tenge. A forensic economic examination dated October 8, 2019, confirmed the receipt of funds into the company's cash register. The former Building Service accountant also stated during confrontations and in court that the money was accepted and recorded in the 1C database. The case also mentioned other transactions. For example, businessman Sagiyatulla Sarsenov and his sister were given three apartments worth about $2 million as part of personal settlements in another construction project. According to case materials, the money for these apartments did not go directly into the Tau-Koktem project's cash register.
In April 2025, the second trial in the Building Service case concluded in Almaty. The defendants were Igor Zhakov, Murat Nurgaziev, Valery Daurenbekov, and Aliya Korganova. The court found them guilty of embezzlement or misappropriation of entrusted property. However, no one received a real sentence as a result of this trial. Daurenbekov was released from liability due to his death; the others due to the statute of limitations. The court ordered some victims to be compensated for material damage. But most of the original investors still have neither apartments nor the money they invested almost 20 years ago. Only Igor Zhakov had previously received a real sentence under the 2020 verdict.
Separately, investors questioned the role of a man named Rustam Bayaliyev. His surname appeared repeatedly in court materials and testimony. In one court decision, Bayaliyev was named as a founder of Kok Baiterek LLP, though public registration data did not confirm this. In another document, he appeared as an investor. Victim representative Andrey Kaznacheyev claimed that this Rustam Bayaliyev and a high-ranking government official are the same person. According to him, Bayaliyev attended meetings with investors, presented himself as an investor, and promised that people would get their apartments after construction was completed. The victims repeatedly asked investigators and the court to interrogate Bayaliyev and check his possible role in the asset transfer. According to participants, such motions were either rejected or yielded no results. In one instance, investors said the investigator reported being unable to locate Bayaliyev for a compulsory summons. However, official confirmation that the person mentioned in the materials and the former presidential administration employee are the same could not be obtained.
Bayaliyev's connection to the project surfaced repeatedly in court: developer Igor Zhakov claimed that Bayaliyev and Ku/v/shinnikov, using threats, forced him to hand over the unfinished project; investors unanimously stated that Bayaliyev asked them not to interfere with "investment," promising that all contributors would receive their apartments; victims obtained an audio recording where representatives of Kok Baiterek LLP and a person identified as Bayaliyev allegedly discuss a visit to the Almaty prosecutor to request that certain individuals not be jailed for fraud and that a decision be made to release them.
In November 2025, the Presidential Administration responded to a query from Orda.kz. The administration stated that the head of the regional development monitoring department, Rustam Bayaliyev, had worked during the relevant period as chairman of the board of Astanaenergoservice JSC and then as deputy head of the Presidential Property Management Department. Thus, Akorda said their employee had no relation to Kok Baiterek LLP. The official response also reminded that civil servants are prohibited from engaging in entrepreneurial activity. However, Astanaenergoservice JSC is a controversial entity. From its founding in 1999 until 2019, it acted as an intermediary in distributing electricity to the capital. In 2019, authorities announced its liquidation, citing high costs. It turned out that around one billion tenge was spent on Astanaenergoservice annually, of which about 600 million went to the payroll. According to the administration's response, Rustam Bayaliyev was chairman of the board of Astanaenergoservice for at least four years before the liquidation announcement. According to data from Kompra.kz, Astanaenergoservice did not cease to exist in 2019 or later and remains active. Only its managers and founders changed. From June 19, 2019, to October 30, 2025, the founder was SPC Astana, and for the past year, the State Property and Privatization Committee of the Ministry of Finance. And based on the administration's response, Rustam Bayaliyev was also chairman of the board for most of that period, as he only moved to the Presidential Property Management Department in January 2024. In 2015, Bayaliyev's career path crossed with Nurali Aliyev, who served as deputy akim of Astana from December 2014 to March 2016. The editors of Orda.kz do not claim that these are the same person. They only note the coincidence of the surname that appears in materials of different criminal cases.
While the original buyers were trying to reclaim their apartments, criminal cases were opened against some of the investors. In July 2022, a private bailiff sealed the Silver Hills building for several days. According to the investigation, the suspension of operations caused Kok Baiterek LLP losses of over 68 million tenge. In May 2025, the bailiff was found guilty of exceeding authority and sentenced to two years of restricted freedom. Later, an appellate court ordered a new forensic economic examination in the case. Criminal cases were also opened against investor representatives Andrey Kaznacheyev and Ksenia Safronova. Kaznacheyev called the charges baseless and noted that the decision to seize the building was made by the bailiff as an independent procedural entity. The investors had previously requested that criminal charges be filed against representatives of Kok Baiterek LLP and that the circumstances of the repeated sale of apartments be investigated. However, law enforcement found no crime in their actions.
As a result, people who paid for housing in 2006–2009 were left with nothing. The complex was completed, commissioned, and occupied, but the apartments belong to other buyers. The directors of the original developer were found guilty, but most were released from criminal liability due to the statute of limitations. The asset transfer deals to the new owner were not overturned, and the original investors' rights to the apartments were not recognized. Now similar complaints are coming from buyers of the IRIS complex. Like the participants in the Tau-Koktem story, they claim to have fully paid for property, only to later learn that the homes were reregistered to others and pledged to a bank. The circumstances of the two cases differ, and the final legal assessment of the IRIS situation is yet to be made by investigators and courts. But the outcome for buyers so far looks the same: people paid tens of millions of tenge, and instead of keys and property documents, they got years of litigation and an offer to effectively buy back their own property a second time.