Tim Worstall

UrAsia Energy

So a uranium mining company with assets in Kazakhstan is coming to the London market. Fine, lovely, why not? This little bit surprised me though:

I have been dealing in Kazakhstan since 1992. I have always found those dealings to be straightforward.

He must have been working in either a different country or a different industry to the one I know. A company called World Wide Minerals which had problems with re-nationalization about a decade ago of different properties in the north of Kazakhstan. Terrible troubles in fact.

In

4 responses

  1. Tim Newman Avatar
    Tim Newman

    I have been dealing in Kazakhstan since 1992. I have always found those dealings to be straightforward.
    It depends. Sometimes dealings in places like this can be very straightforward: bribe the chap who runs the town, bribe the chairman of the tender committee, and bribe whoever else is necessary for a smooth transaction.
    This can be a lot more straigtforward than a competitive tender, provided of course those who you bribe are the right people and they do you the courtesy of sticking to their side of the agreement and staying alive long enough for it to take place.

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  2. angry_economist Avatar
    angry_economist

    Tim Newman is right – straightforward enough if you have all the bribes lined up neatly!
    There is no effing way I would invest in these companies. Its so easy for a corrupt politician or government official to siphon off billions of dollars into a swiss bank account and then to produce legal documents, or bring other pressures to bear that make it legitimate.
    Sometimes things can go wrong, though: “Juri Wegelin, a German citizen who owns and runs a successful wine and juice company in Kazakhstan, spent five months in jail last year, three of them in solitary confinement in a small, windowless cell. The 45-year-old businessman says his troubles started in 2004, when he got several phone calls telling him to give up his company. He did not want to name those who made the calls.”
    http://eurasia.org.ru/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=News&report=SingleArticle2005&ArticleID=0002135

    Reply
  3. Tim Newman Avatar
    Tim Newman

    Juri Wegelin, a German citizen who owns and runs a successful wine and juice company in Kazakhstan, spent five months in jail last year, three of them in solitary confinement in a small, windowless cell.
    This, of course, is just what I want to hear just weeks before I go off to manage a company in Russia.

    Reply
  4. angry_economist Avatar
    angry_economist

    Well Tim – it will be an adventure! just make sure you have an escape plan lined up…! a speedboat to Hokkaido or something!
    Most expats get on fine though so don’t worry. Just be under no illusions about the modus operandii of business over there!
    The problem I guess is that you will be tapped for lots of bribes, and its learning which ones are worth paying, and which ones aren’t which I guess is the skill.
    Just ask Tim for tips – I am sure he has some, having been in business in that region for quite a few years now…

    Reply

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