Patokh Chodiev

Biography

Patokh Chodiev was born in Uzbekistan. He studied international law and Japanese at the Moscow State Institute of International Affairs (MGIMO), graduating with a doctorate in political science. Speaking Japanese fluently, he joined the diplomatic service specializing in Russian-Japanese commercial relations and subsequently lived in Tokyo for a few years.

In 1996, Chodiev created an international charitable organization, the Chodiev Foundation, to promote innovation, art and education in Eurasia and Southeast Asia.

On 27 June 1997 Patokh Chodiev acquired Belgian citizenship. This led to a debate in the media about how his naturalization was obtained, since Chodiev does not speak any of the three official languages of Belgium (Dutch, French or German) fluently. Furthermore, the Belgian State Security Service expressed concerns about Chodiev’s relations to other Russian businessmen, but eventually found "nothing to report."

Patokh Chodiev was also accused of having received help in this matter from the mayor of Waterloo, Serge Kubla. His Belgian naturalization was finally the subject of an official inquiry in January 2017, about which the Belgian newspaper Le Soir wrote on 11 January 2017: “When Serge Kubla wrote to Claude Eerdekens on 16 May 1997, all the lights were already green for Chodiev: he had the support of the SPF Justice, the State Security Service, the Aliens Department, the Waterloo police and the Public Prosecutor's Office, and therefore also that of the naturalization service.” On March 8, 2017, Serge Kubla assured “under oath" not to have intervened on Chodiev’s behalf.

In 1999, the energy company Tractebel lodged a complaint against two of its employees, accusing them of embezzling part of the $55 million in consulting fees paid by Tractebel to Patokh Chodiev and his two associates. Separate to this case, the three partners were under investigation in Belgium for forgery and money laundering, but the Brussels public prosecutor dropped any proceedings on June 17, 2011, within the framework of the extension to the criminal transaction law. As such the three paid a lump sum settlement of 522,500 euros.

Together with Alexander Mashkevich and Alijan Ibragimov, Chodiev runs various ventures in the minerals sector in Kazakhstan, Africa and Brazil. In 2007, their enterprise was floated on the London Stock Exchange and became part of the FTSE 100 in 2008. In 2009, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), one of the world's leading natural resource companies, of which Chodiev is a major shareholder, generated a profit of $1.462 billion from a turnover of $3.8 billion. Based in London, ENRC exploited a number of mineral deposits in Kazakhstan and Africa after acquiring numerous mining operations in Eastern Europe and Africa. In November 2013, in collaboration with the Kazakh government, the group left the London Stock Exchange, was renamed "Eurasian Resources Group" (ERG) and is registered in Luxembourg as a company specializing in natural resources.

Patokh Chodiev was named among the 732 Belgians linked to offshore companies when the Panama Papers scandal broke in April 2016.

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