A resort in Sardinia, a $200 million yacht, and a Belgian passport in hand: Shukhrat Ibragimov makes money through schemes serving Russia’s interests
29.04.2025 10:10
With a Belgian passport in hand, Kazakh billionaire Shukhrat Ibragimov, whose company is entangled in allegations of large-scale corruption and unusual deaths in Africa, added a Dassault Falcon 8X private jet to his collection in 2024.
In 2024, he headed the mining company Eurasian Resources Group after the death of his father, who founded it in the 90s. Journalists analyzed what else Shukhrat Ibragimov owns and uses.
According to Forbes magazine, Ibragimov ranks 7th in the list of the most influential businessmen in Kazakhstan. At the same time, the entire Ibragimov family, including his mother and three brothers, is among the top ten richest people in this country with a fortune of 1.5 billion dollars.
The family has a diversified business – from mineral extraction to banking and insurance. Shukhrat Ibragimov is also the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Biteeu and the company Eurasian Space Ventures, which plans to cooperate with China in the field of space exploration.
The family’s main company, Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), is engaged in the extraction and processing of natural resources. 40% of the shares belong to the government of Kazakhstan.
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The firm does business in Kazakhstan, Brazil, and the African region. Last year, when the family firm was headed by Shukhrat Ibragimov, it became involved in an international scandal. The Guardian published a major investigation into questionable deals of the Eurasian Resources Group in Africa. Among them is the purchase of the Congon manganese ore deposit in South Africa for $295 million. After talking to numerous witnesses and experts, journalists concluded that the deposit, located deep in the desert, could never have cost such money, and it seems this deal was just money laundering. The contract was conducted through an intermediary in Mauritius, and the real value of the deposit did not exceed $145 million.
Journalists describe that the investigation was led by a private detective hired by British investors of Eurasian Resources Group. They suspected that the Ibragimov company might be involved in corruption. The detective found that the company’s representative in Africa was involved in corruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and could also have acted in circumvention of sanctions against the Robert Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. The possible illegal activities of the Eurasian Resources Group have also been under long-term investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office. Although the British investigation was closed in 2023, the Ibragimovs’ transactions attracted the attention of the South African government. The investigation is ongoing to this day.
In 2020, the Financial Times published material about the activities of the Eurasian Resources Group in Africa. It talked about the mysterious deaths of several key witnesses who could have helped British justice uncover the truth about the Ibragimovs and the company.
While the Ibragimovs’ corruption schemes were being blasted by all the world’s media, and law enforcement agencies of different countries were trying to find evidence, the family continued to accumulate expensive assets.
In 2011, just when the Eurasian Resources Group bought the Congon deposit in South Africa, overpaying for it by at least $150 million, the firm DDSF Holding SPRL was registered in Belgium. Data from the Belgian registry revealed that its founders were Shukhrat Ibragimov and his brother Furkhat. The registration address for both was listed as the Belgian municipality of Brain-l’Alleud.
Satellite images show a huge Versailles-style estate at the specified address. According to real estate profile sites, the total area of the land plot is 31,792 square meters.
The DDSF Holding SPRL company in Belgium is still active, and its registration remains the luxurious estate, located about 20 km south of Brussels. At least until mid-December 2018, two other brothers of Shukhrat Ibragimov, Davran and Dostan, were also part of the company’s management.
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It is known that Shukhrat Ibragimov holds a Belgian passport. This is confirmed by data from the UK registry. During 2017-2018, he was among the founders of the London company Sparkle Global Entertainment Limited. His nationality is listed as Belgium.
Furkhat Ibragimov also holds Belgian citizenship. This can be proven by an extract from the London registry for the company Raffles Energy (UK) LTD.
At the same time, the registration address for Furkhat Ibragimov is a house in London near the famous Hyde Park. This may indicate that this property is also owned by the family.
According to Luxembourg registries, Shukhrat Ibragimov and his brother Furkhat are also founders of several Luxembourg firms. At the same time, since 2013, the family’s main firm, Eurasian Resources Group, has also been based in this European country. The firm moved here just as the UK’s law enforcement investigation into the Ibragimovs’ dealings in Africa was heating up. Before that, ERG was listed on the London Stock Exchange, earning significantly more trust from investors.
Last year it became known that the day after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian businessman Musa Bazhaev sold a luxury resort on the Italian island of Sardinia to Cypriot firms. Subsequently, Shukhrat Ibragimov became the owner of Forte Village. The deal was conducted through the firms Retivia Investments Limited and Quarmine LTD.
The latter appears in the Russian bank "Finprombank" report for the first quarter of 2016. It states that in April 2014, "Finprombank" sold to UM Finance Limited dematerialized bonds (issuer Quarmine LTD), with a nominal value of 100,000 euros each, in the amount of 1905 pieces. The size of the transaction in monetary terms (amount of principal debt, including interest for using the credit): 183,790,000.00 euros.
At the same time, the document states that "Finprombank" assigns to Quarmine LTD the right to claim against Progetto Esmeralda S.R.L. under credit agreement No. 297-2014/CL dated 01.10.2014. In payment of the assigned rights, dematerialized bonds (issuer Quarmine LTD), with a nominal value of 100,000 euros each bond, in the amount of 1905 pieces, are transferred.
It is Progetto Esmeralda S.R.L., according to official data, that manages the Forte Village resort in Sardinia.
The Ibragimov family’s companies scattered around the world led journalists to Dubai. In one of the companies based in Singapore, Shukhrat Ibragimov listed his registration address as an apartment on the artificial Dubai island Bluewaters. This place is one of the most beautiful in Dubai in terms of high-tech architecture. It houses the world’s largest Ferris wheel, AinDubai, which resumed operations last year after several years of downtime.
From the building in which Ibragimov indicated his apartment, one can see the wheel on one side and a stunning view of the Persian Gulf and leisure areas on the other.
Local real estate websites list three-bedroom apartments in the mentioned building for sale at a price of 12 million dirhams, which at the current exchange rates amounts to 3.3 million dollars.
Dubai brokers rate the Bluewaters area as the most “Russian”, as the number of Russians living here per square meter exceeds any other area of Dubai.
A source provided exclusive photos of a building in which Shukhrat Ibragimov is likely to have real estate.
In 2024, Shukhrat Ibragimov became the owner of a private Dassault Falcon 8X jet with the number OO-FOI. Recent photos on profile sites capture its location in Spain.
In the same country recently stands the premium 100-meter yacht I Dynasty, which sails under the flag of the Cayman Islands and is registered to the company Vegayachts & Partners Limited.
The firm was highlighted in the Pandora Papers data leak. Its head was stated to be Shukhrat’s father, Alijan Ibragimov. The yacht’s value is estimated at 200 million dollars.
The profit of the main Ibragimov company, Eurasian Resources Group, in 2023 was 133.7 million dollars, while in 2022 it exceeded 270 million dollars. Revenues in 2023 fell by 18% - from 7.9 million dollars to 6.5 million. Debt for 2023 increased to 440 million dollars.
Reports from Eurasian Resources Group state that part of the debt to Russian banks was repaid in yuan, fearing sanctions.
In 2025, the company also began to review its plans for exploiting African resources. Eurasian Resources Group plans to reassess some of its mineral extraction permits in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is considering selling assets in Mozambique, possibly due to the stance of the DRC authorities. In April 2024, the country’s government halted the work of nine subcontractors working at Eurasian Resources Group’s copper and cobalt mines. The suspension was explained by non-compliance with local retention regulations. According to DRC laws, mining companies must hire local subcontractors, over 50% of which are controlled by Congolese. Eurasian Resources Group is accused of not meeting this requirement. It is alleged that Congolese at the heads of ERG’s subcontractors are only shareholders on paper and do not in fact operate or manage the business.
Recently, Reuters reported that US businessman James Cameron sent the ERG board of directors a proposal to buy the company from him for 5 billion dollars. Subsequently, Shukhrat Ibragimov denied information that the company is negotiating sales.
Planes, yachts, numerous properties, and even playing in the crypto business and space conquest – all this can hardly be called investments that will multiply the Ibragimov family’s capital. Shukhrat Ibragimov, who inherited billions of dollars from his father, amidst corruption scandals and lawsuits with Eurasian Resources Group co-founders, rather looks like a "dandy" who wants to appear as Elon Musk but may actually be a young oligarch who went bankrupt and lost everything.
