Patokh Chodiev

Patokh Chodiev (Russian: Фа́ттох Каюмович Шо́диев; Fáttoh Kayúmovich Shódiev; born 15 April 1953, in Jizzakh (Uzbek SSR), is a London-based Uzbek oligarch with Belgian citizenship who, with Alexander Mashkevich and Alijan Ibragimov, is part of the "Trio," a group of Central Asian businessmen who made their fortune through deals in minerals, oil, gas, and banking in Kazakhstan. Chodiev is currently ranked #287 on the Forbes list of billionaires.

Early life

Chodiev was born in Uzbekistan. He studied international law and Japanese in Moscow, Russia. Chodiev lived in Japan. Chodiev later established the Chodiev Group.

The Trio and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation

With his partners Mashkevich and Ibragimov, Chodiev is a major shareholder in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), one of the world's leading natural resources groups. ENRC, based in London, operates a number of metals assets in Kazakhstan and Africa, having acquired numerous mining operations in Eastern Europe and Africa. In 2009, ENRC generated a $1,462 million profit on sales of $3.8 billion.

ENRC was floated on the London Stock Exchange in December 2007, with a market capitalisation on Admission of approximately £6.8 billion.

Forbes ranking of the richest people in the world

• 2005 (first appearance in Forbes): nr. 620, $1 bil.
• 2006: nr. 382, $2.0 bil.
• 2007: nr. 538, $1.9 bil.
• 2008: nr. 334, $3.3 bil.
• 2009: nr. 601, $1.2 bil.
• 2010: nr. 287, $3.3 bil.

Acquisition of Belgian citizenship

Chodiev acquired the Belgian citizenship on 27 June 1997 with help from the mayor of Waterloo, Serge Kubla (fr) (Mouvement Réformateur), of Czech origin and his closest neighbour, and later (1999-2004) Minister of Economy and Foreign Commerce in the regional Walloon Government. That naturalization was irregularly obtained as knowledge of at least one official language of Belgium (Dutch, French or German) was then compulsory to become a Belgian citizen, and Chodiev spoke none of them. Moreover, the Belgian State Security Service had sent beforehand a report to the local police informing it of the mafia connections of Chodiev.

Prosecution

In 1999, the company Tractebel lodged a complaint in Belgium against Chodiev and his associates. It considered them to have been allocated suspicious consultancy costs amounting to 55 million euros. They were prosecuted in 2011 for forgery and money laundering, but Chodiev benefited from a recent Belgian law allowing the conclusion of criminal transactions that allowed him to extinguish the criminal action for a payment of 22.5 million euros. Several French and Belgian media mentioned the intervention in the speedy voting of this law of Armand De Decker, both a lawyer hired by the Kazakh businessmen and a senator belonging to the same party as Serge Kubla.

Scandal of Panama Papers

Chodiev is quoted in the case of Panama Papers. According to the newspaper Le Soir, it would be linked to at least twenty-five offshore companies.

Two of his associates, Alexander Machkevitch and Alijan Ibragimov, are also covered by the case. All three had been involved in the case of the first and second "Kazakhgate". In 2011 they entered into a plea agreement (€ 23 million) with the Belgian court for abandoning prosecutions.