Heads of Kazakh sovereign wealth fund, state railway company arrested on suspicion of corruption, security service says

The ​heads of Kazakhstan's sovereign ‌wealth ​fund and its state railway company have been detained ‌on suspicion of corruption, Kazakhstan's domestic security service said on Thursday.

In a statement published on its ‌website, the National Security Committee said that ‌Nurlan Zhakupov, CEO of the Samruk-Kazyna wealth fund, and Yelzhas Otynshiyev, chairman of the board of the ⁠Kazakhstan Temir ​Zholy ⁠railway company, had been arrested along with other, unnamed ⁠individuals. It said they were "suspected of committing a corruption-related crime."

Samruk-Kazyna ​controls major assets across Kazakhstan's energy, transport, ⁠telecoms and infrastructure sectors, including the national airline Air ⁠Astana, ​and KazMunayGaz, the state-owned oil and gas company. It owns a 100% stake in ⁠Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, which has said it is preparing ⁠for ⁠a planned international IPO.