Shukeyev new Samruk-Kazyna head

ASTANA – Kazakhstani Deputy Prime Minister Umirzak Shukeyev December 26 replaced the fired Timur Kulibayev (President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s son-in-law) as head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Kazakhstan Today reported December 26, quoting a statement by the Samruk-Kazyna fund.

Nazarbayev December 22 said he intended to fire Kulibayev. According to Samruk-Kazyna, Kulibayev requested to resign from the fund’s chairmanship after the December 16-17 clashes between strikers and police in Zhanaozen.

Shukeyev will continue to chair the government commission investigating the Zhanaozen violence, Prime Minister Karim Massimov tweeted December 26.

Nazarbayev December 26 also banned top officials from spending upcoming holidays abroad, media reported, quoting his press office. “They (the officials) should vacation in their country with their people,” Nazarbayev said, according to Kazakhstan Today.