Surrounded by intense scents of pine, thyme and the ocean, Gianluca and I fastidiously wend our approach down a slim forest path that results in Cala Morisca, a small idyllic cove on the coast within the municipality of Lloret de Mar, northeastern Spain. We’re within the remaining days of summer season, 2024.
Midway down, we encounter a gate. It’s open, however a number of indicators warn we’re coming into personal property, protected by guard canines and video surveillance. Pink and white safety tape dangles throughout the trail, encouraging us to not cross.
We do. An additional thousand ft down, a closed fence lastly blocks our path. Behind it: a compound of posh residential buildings surrounded by a sprawling, well-manicured garden that stretches to the sting of a cliff, and, past that, the Mediterranean Sea. We have now reached Can Juncadella, the sprawling property of Kazakh billionaire Timur Kulibayev.
A number of surveillance cameras and some loudspeakers level in our path. Nobody bothers us.
Gianluca Battista, a photojournalist from Spanish newspaper El País, and I aren’t breaking any legislation. The tape, cameras and warning indicators however, public entry to the trail is permitted beneath a July 2023 court docket ruling, the results of years of litigation between the homeowners and the Lloret de Mar city council. The city gained.
The property is about 100 acres — about 80 American soccer fields — and consists of a wooded space and residential areas of 116,455 sq. ft constructed up.
With the Mediterranean at our ft, the great thing about the place is overwhelming. “Paradise,” Gianluca murmurs. I can vouch for that. No marvel Can Juncadella is a well-liked summer season vacation vacation spot for the Kulibayev household.
Two years of labor for the Caspian Cabals investigation, led by the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists with greater than 20 media companions, confirmed how Kulibayev had prepared entry to the levers of energy via his father-in-law Nursultan Nazarbayev, who dominated petroleum-rich Kazakhstan for almost three many years. Kulibayev managed to amass stakes in profitable personal corporations that have been as soon as state-owned and that allowed his personal enterprise empire to develop and make him a billionaire.
He obtained main pursuits in Kazakh vitality, actual property, commodities, banking and development, held in a complicated internet of financial institution accounts, properties and belongings, a tangled community of corporations and trusts registered in additional than 20 nations, from the UK to Germany, Luxembourg, Singapore and the Cayman Islands.
Caspian Cabals uncovered how Western oil firm cash has empowered anti-democratic actors in Kazakhstan, bolstered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and enriched regional elites. Kulibayev was one of many members of the Kazakh elite who straight benefitted from Western oil firm cash.
Our investigation additionally revealed the diploma to which Kulibayev has been investing in Spain since 2004. He now owns at least eight properties within the nation, plus an aesthetic medical clinic and 6 corporations managed via a posh company construction composed of lots of of entities.
Our findings have been made via a assessment of firm, court docket and land information, but additionally thanks to a few days of reporting throughout our journey to Catalonia.
Day 1: A perfect spot for summer season holidays and birthday celebrations
We arrive in Lloret de Mar by automotive from Barcelona, an hour and a half away.
The primary vacation spot is Lloret de Mar’s north finish, the place since round 2010, the Kulibayev household has spent a part of the summer season, coinciding with the birthday of Kulibayev’s spouse, Dinara Kulibayeva, on the Can Juncadella property.
With a mixed fortune of $10 billion, in keeping with Forbes, the couple leads the listing of the richest Kazakhs.
However their property in Lloret de Mar is particular. In 2024, the household spent greater than two months there final summer season, in keeping with a citizen of this city accustomed to Kulibayev’s life in Spain, however who requested not be named for this text.
From the Nineteen Forties till the Nineties, the property belonged to Catalonia’s rich Juncadella household. Within the Nineties, it housed a faculty to coach govt secretaries for Japanese multinationals.
Since 2004, Can (Catalan for “home of”) Juncadella has formally belonged to Flinder Knowledge SL, a subsidiary of Steppe Capital Pte Ltd, a Singapore holding firm wholly owned by Kulibayev.
The property features a 40,000-square-foot white two-story mansion. There may be additionally a guesthouse with at the very least 13 bed room suites, in keeping with native media, and numerous sports activities amenities comparable to tennis and basketball courts, a mini-soccer subject and a swimming pool. The property is fastidiously hidden behind vegetation to guard the homeowners’ privateness. Solely aerial and satellite tv for pc imagery reveal the extraordinary fantastic thing about the location.
The presence of a household of such huge wealth is noticeable within the fixed motion of bodyguards and luxurious vehicles in the summertime, in keeping with locals who most popular to stay nameless.
Kulibayev’s in depth safety equipment has created tensions in the neighborhood, significantly over the usage of the trail that Gianluca and I walked down. In a proper request for data to the Spanish authorities, two members of Parliament in September mentioned that some neighborhood members tried to make official use of the trail however discovered themselves “frequently encountering the obstacle of the passage by the personal safety of the property.”
The 2 lawmakers mentioned this additionally led to “conditions of nice stress, threats or the show of weapons of various calibers with the intention of dissuasion by these personal brokers.” They added that native residents who use the trail offered proof together with “images and movies the place these attitudes will be noticed, in addition to the weapons used.”
In October, the Spanish authorities referred the inquiries to the Catalan regional authorities however famous that the homeowners of the property had correctly registered contracts for “the supply of surveillance companies with weapons” with Spain’s Nationwide Register of Personal Safety since 2013.
A member of the Catalan Parliament filed an analogous formal query to the federal government concerning the legality of the safety measures in November. A response from the Catalan authorities is pending.
In response to ICIJ’s questions, a legislation agency representing Kulibayev mentioned: “It’s denied that our consumer’s safety group (or any of his different representatives) act in any approach which is menacing. Within the roughly 10 years that this group has been working for our consumer, there have been no complaints towards the corporate or its staff from any third events.”
In response to questions from ICIJ concerning the parliamentary requests and the usage of weapons by the property’s safety guards, Kulibayev’s consultant mentioned that they couldn’t “touch upon such safety issues.”
The property was semi-abandoned earlier than Kulibayev bought it, and the neighbors of Lloret de Mar used the property for his or her enjoyment. “Earlier than they purchased the property, I used to go mushroom selecting with my grandfather as a result of the perfect mushrooms within the space are discovered on the property,” one native resident instructed us.
Numerous locals talked about grievances with their super-rich neighbors, particularly associated to Kulibayeva’s birthday events.
Based on paperwork obtained by ICIJ as a part of Caspian Cabals, on Dinara Kulibayeva’s forty third birthday in 2010, the household spent lots of of hundreds of {dollars} — together with almost $650,000 for a 30-foot tall water curtain, laser and gyroscopic jets and different “water results,” together with fireworks that might develop into notorious within the collective reminiscence of Lloret de Mar.
Native media reported that Lloret’s residents complained that an elaborate fireworks show on the summertime social gathering created a possible fireplace hazard in a protected space. Data present the homeowners of Can Juncadella obtained an distinctive official allow with an agreed-upon listing of permitted fireworks. However a subsequent report by native forest rangers mentioned the show finally included fireworks that “didn’t seem within the listing that had been drawn up.”
“Our consumer is just not conscious of any allegation regarding non-compliance with fireplace security guidelines on the Can Juncadella property in 2010,” a legislation agency representing Kulibayev instructed ICIJ. The representatives added: “No investigation has been initiated and no sanction has been imposed.”
Upon Kulibayeva’s subsequent birthday in 2011, an settlement reviewed by ICIJ exhibits her husband paid $1.5 million for an hour-long personal present on the property “with a small band and dancers” by Christina Aguilera.
Reached by ICIJ, the producer for Aguilera who signed the 2011 settlement mentioned: “I actually don’t have data I can add to this.” Aguilera’s present producer didn’t reply to a request for remark.
We heard speak of neighbors’ complaints about these events all through our reporting — on the seaport, within the eating places, on the seaside and elsewhere.
After speaking to some residents in Lloret de Mar, Gianluca and I drive almost an hour north to the city of Castell-Platja d’Aro, that includes a luxurious residential space overlooking calm Mediterranean waters. It’s known as S’Agaró. Most of the properties in S’Agaró are owned by Russians, Kazakhs and Central and Japanese Europeans.
ICIJ revealed that Kulibayev bought two S’Agaró villas, in 2021 and 2023, via the Spanish firm Diada Funding & Actual Property SL, which in flip is a subsidiary of the Kazakh agency Verus Praedium Worldwide LLP owned by Kulibayev.
That firm additionally holds two different properties in Mont-Roig del Camp within the province of Tarragona. One of many properties, “Villa Greta,” an 11.2-acre property that includes 26,000 sq. ft of buildings, fronts onto the Mediterranean.
Nonetheless, we solely went to S’Agaró.
We additionally cross by a villa that Kulibayev’s father, Askar Kulibayev, has owned in S’Agaró since 2018 via a Spanish-registered firm, Domymar High quality SL. The elder Kulibayev was a Soviet-era Communist Social gathering boss within the province Guryev (now Atyrau) between 1985 and 1990 and minister of development and housing within the unbiased Kazakhstan through the Nineties.
Day 2: Between public pathway complications and golf membership serenity
I drive again from Barcelona to Lloret de Mar considering a panorama of beautiful pure magnificence, the Mediterranean all the time to the east out the passenger’s facet window. I’m going again to the seaside, to the eating places and to the seaport to speak to extra individuals.
The world across the port and the seaside (the place Kulibayev swims greater than a kilometer a day) is a wealthy supply of data.
The household has left just a few days earlier than, locals say.
On the Lloret de Mar city corridor, the mayor, Adrià Lamelas, tells of the controversy surrounding the general public entry to the pathway that crosses Kulibayev’s Can Juncadella property.
The mayor explains {that a} July 2023 ruling obliges holding firm Flinder Knowledge SL to reopen the pathway for public use. Now, he says, Lloret de Mar city council and Kulibayev’s attorneys are discussing a brand new format for the pathway that might safeguard the Kulibayev’s safety and privateness.
“I’m attempting to get them to pay for it and to make a brand new path that’s passable for all events. If the homeowners lastly determine to not pay for a brand new street, then we’ll power them to adjust to the ultimate court docket ruling of July 2023 and open your entire authentic path for the enjoyment of the general public,” mentioned Lamelas. “I’ve set a deadline of December this yr to achieve an settlement with them.”
Kulibayev’s authorized representatives instructed ICIJ that the judgment “does recognise the existence of a public coastal pathway, nevertheless it doesn’t specify its precise course.” They confirmed the oligarch’s representatives in Spain and the municipal company are “working collectively to offer impact to the ruling and facilitate compliance with it.”
Jordi Palaudelmas, from the SOS Costa Brava activist group, instructed ICIJ that he has met Kulibayev on the seaside a number of instances the place he swims. “When you wave at him, he waves again,” Palaudelmas mentioned. Xavier Crespo, a former Lloret de Mar mayor, described Kulibayev as “well mannered and shy.”
SOS Costa Brava is a federation of 26 environmental organizations whose purpose is “to collectively struggle towards a brand new wave of city and infrastructure initiatives threatening to completely erase the essence of the Costa Brava” (the northeastern Mediterranean coast of Spain), in keeping with its web site.
Nonetheless, Palaudelmas and his group are battling to make sure that the court docket ruling is absolutely enforced and that the unique path is reopened. He thinks that court docket rulings are there to be complied with and the town council should implement them. “It’s a blatant case; this speaks volumes concerning the democratic high quality of a rustic. What’s at stake is the democracy of a rustic,” he mentioned.
Half an hour by automotive north of Lloret de Mar lies Camiral Golf and Wellness, boasting “one of many prime 10 golf programs in Europe and the #1 golf course in Spain,” in keeping with its web site. This membership is about in an idyllic panorama between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees.
Contained in the resort, which features a resort from which individuals freely got here and went, the whole lot exudes luxurious, at the very least in a single reporter’s eyes: the vehicles, the manicured gardens, the luxury sports activities amenities, the safety and the five-star Lodge Camiral. There, we’re set to visually affirm one other discovery ICIJ got here throughout in land and firm information.
In 2012 and 2013, Flinder Knowledge SL purchased two plots on the resort, 1.7 acres in complete, on which sits a villa of avant-garde design, with a pool constructed later. Kulibayev and his household normally go to play golf there when they’re in Spain, in keeping with a number of sources.
The property is designed for max privateness. At avenue stage, one can barely see the façade because it was constructed on a terraced plot and the apparently most seen half faces a pine forest positioned in entrance of one of many golf course greens.
Day 3: A medical clinic and a luxurious villa
Our third and final reporting day, we concentrate on two targets, all in Barcelona: an aesthetic drugs clinic, and a brand new villa within the elevated, wealthier facet of the town, often called “la zona alta de Barcelona.”
The port space is filled with individuals, yachts and superyachts of these attending the thirty seventh America’s Cup crusing competitors going down throughout our go to.
I head in direction of the district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, a high-class neighborhood of Barcelona, to satisfy one other El País photographer at a former spiritual college now transformed into Hospital Regenerative Medication Options, quickly to be opened to the general public, in keeping with an worker we met.
Restoration of the inside and exterior of the four-story constructing is nearly full. The façade of the primary entrance shines in golden tones subsequent to an outside courtyard flanked by shrubs and bushes.
In 2015, the corporate Regenerative Medication Options SL purchased the property. This Spanish firm is not directly owned by Kulibayev, who holds 85% of the shares via Steppe Capital.
Ten minutes by automotive from the clinic and up in direction of the mountains that flank Barcelona to the west, we discover a fashionable villa extending over a manicured tree-lined property of 1.2 acres. At its ft is the town of Barcelona; on the horizon, the Mediterranean Sea. Up the hill: a pine forest.
Building began in 2014, and ICIJ verified that it’s almost concluded. Based on the web site of the structure agency growing this luxurious residence, the property will embody 5 bedrooms, a health club, a spa, a house cinema room, an outside pool and a solarium, amongst different amenities. The villa is owned by Kulibayev’s firm Recoletos Administration SLU.
The villa, like Can Juncadella again in Lloret de Mar, is protected, in keeping with indicators posted close by, by Forza Seguridad SL, a safety firm that’s a part of a community of corporations held via Kulibayev’s Steppe Capital group.
Within the Eighties, whereas enjoying for FC Barcelona, Argentine soccer star Diego Armando Maradona lived on the identical avenue.
Colombian singer Shakira and Spanish former soccer participant Gerard Piqué lived collectively in the identical neighborhood, often called Pedralbes, till their separation in 2022.
The second El País photographer and I attempt to discover good angles to take photos of the home, however the property is designed with partitions and vegetation to offer as a lot privateness as doable. Neither at avenue stage nor from the highest of the hill can we get good angles.
Anyway, we will’t assist pondering that we’re having fun with a privileged view of the entire metropolis of Barcelona and the Mediterranean that laps it.
In response to an ICIJ letter, the legislation agency representing the Kazakh businessman wrote: “Mr Kulibayev and his household have acquired properties close to to one another in Spain, with extra property for workers working on the residences and for workers that journey with the prolonged household. Aside from the medical enterprise, the properties are used now and again by prolonged household and workers. The household have been privately holidaying in Spain for a few years.”
