Photo from nationalbank.kz
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has relieved Berik Sholpankulov of his post as Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, according to the Akorda website.
The statement says that Sholpankulov submitted his resignation voluntarily. He had served as deputy chairman since 2021. His successor has not yet been announced.
A day earlier, Sholpankulov commented on Tokayev’s high-profile statement that in 2025 more than 7 trillion tenge (over $13 billion) had been “transferred” through a certain Kazakh bank from a neighboring country to third countries. Tokayev made the remarks on January 28 during a meeting at the Agency for Financial Monitoring.
In a conversation with BES.media, Sholpankulov noted that a review of cross-border transactions conducted by the National Bank and the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market following the president’s statement had not yet been completed. However, at the current stage, no signs of violations of the law had been identified.
He also suggested that the 7 trillion tenge mentioned by the president could represent the total turnover of transactions rather than the amount of funds withdrawn. He did not specify which bank was involved.
After receiving this comment, journalists approached presidential press secretary Aibek Smadiyarov to clarify whether Tokayev might have been provided with unverified information ahead of the meeting.
“The Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev does not announce unverified information. If he said that transactions (transfers) totaling 7 trillion tenge took place, then that is the case,” Smadiyarov told KazTAG. “Another matter is that this information was addressed to the participants of the meeting at the Agency for Financial Monitoring and was not intended for broad public discussion; it was strictly of an official nature. The bank through which the transactions were carried out knows that it was being referred to. For reasons of political expediency and diplomatic protocol, the president deliberately did not disclose either the country of origin of the funds, the recipient country, or the bank that assumed such a function under the sanctions regime.”
At the same time, a senior official at the National Bank of Kazakhstan, speaking to Fergana on condition of anonymity, described the amount cited by Tokayev as “anomalous.”
“This is nearly 10% of the total assets of Kazakhstan’s banking system. Given the compliance requirements of correspondent banks, this is unrealistic,” the source said.
