{"id":36570,"date":"2020-09-03T05:39:54","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T03:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=36570"},"modified":"2020-09-03T05:40:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T03:40:19","slug":"36570-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/36570-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Questionable Murders in US"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A pair of potential whistleblowers who knew the inside story of a company operated by three of the richest men in Kazakhstan were both found dead at a motel in Springfield, Missouri, mid-way through a Route 66 road trip on rented Harley-Davidsons.<\/p>\n

Autopsy reports initially declared that the two men had died suddenly of malaria, but an expert on the disease told the author of a new book<\/a> into global corruption that the likelihood of them dying of the same disease on the same night was \u201calmost certainly nil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deaths of the two men are now being investigated by the FBI as it emerged they were potential witnesses in a massive corruption inquiry into a mining company established by three phenomenally wealthy Kazakh oligarchs.<\/p>\n

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South Africans James Bethel, 44, and Gerrit Strydom, 45, who were found dead in their rooms at La Quinta Inn in Springfield in 2015, had quit their roles at a multimillion-dollar mining group,\u00a0Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) earlier in the year. The company was, and remains, under investigation for corruption by Britain\u2019s Serious Fraud office (SFO).<\/p>\n

The events are detailed by author Tom Burgis in Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World<\/a>.<\/em> He told The Daily Beast: \u201cIn the West, we tend to forget how connected we are in the global economy to the parts of the world where making money can be a deadly business, places like Congo, Kazakhstan and many points in between, where lives are taken in pursuit of fortunes, to protect secrets or to hurt rivals. These are exactly the kinds of places where Bethel and Strydom operated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company was founded by three Central Asian businessmen, Alexander Mashkevitch, Patokh Chodiev and Alijan Ibragimov, known simply as \u201cthe Trio\u201d in Kazakhstan. They took control of valuable mines in Kazakhstan during the wave of chaotic privatizations that occurred in the wake of the collapse of the USSR.\u00a0Their wealth has been estimated by Forbes<\/a> <\/em>at $1.9 billion, $1.8 billion, and $1.9 billion respectively.<\/p>\n

The mining company was at one stage one of the most valuable companies in the U.K., with a market capitalization of \u00a320 billion ($26 billion). It bought mines in troubled parts of Africa, including Congo and Zimbabwe, that later became the focus of bribery allegations, which it denies.<\/p>\n

Burgis told The Daily Beast: \u201cThe billionaires who control ENRC holiday in the south of France with presidents or on superyachts half as long as the Titanic [Uzbekistan-born Ibragimov, spends much of his time on a reported 26-cabin<\/a>, $200 million yacht]. They snap up Damian Hirsts and hire Craig David to serenade their birthday guest.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut more importantly, their money is power in the rawest sense. In places like Kazakhstan and Congo, where life can be tragically cheap and rulers serve the cause of their own enrichment, oligarchs such as these have power like that of the old imperialists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have extended that power into the rich democracies with the help of lawyers, bankers, spin doctors, lobbyists and spies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerns about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths of the men have been aggravated by the revelation that the two were seen by British prosecutors as potential witnesses in one of the U.K.\u2019s biggest corruption probes.<\/p>\n

The men had held senior positions in the African division of ENRC, which is at the center of a massive seven-year bribery and fraud investigation by the U.K.\u2019s Serious Fraud Office.<\/p>\n

The deaths of the two men are now being investigated by the FBI as it emerged they were potential witnesses in a massive corruption inquiry into a mining company established by three phenomenally wealthy Kazakh oligarchs.<\/p>\n

South Africans James Bethel, 44, and Gerrit Strydom, 45, who were found dead in their rooms at La Quinta Inn in Springfield in 2015, had quit their roles at a multimillion-dollar mining group,\u00a0Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) earlier in the year. The company was, and remains, under investigation for corruption by Britain\u2019s Serious Fraud office (SFO).<\/p>\n

The events are detailed by author Tom Burgis in Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World<\/a>.<\/em> He told The Daily Beast: \u201cIn the West, we tend to forget how connected we are in the global economy to the parts of the world where making money can be a deadly business, places like Congo, Kazakhstan and many points in between, where lives are taken in pursuit of fortunes, to protect secrets or to hurt rivals. These are exactly the kinds of places where Bethel and Strydom operated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company was founded by three Central Asian businessmen, Alexander Mashkevitch, Patokh Chodiev and Alijan Ibragimov, known simply as \u201cthe Trio\u201d in Kazakhstan. They took control of valuable mines in Kazakhstan during the wave of chaotic privatizations that occurred in the wake of the collapse of the USSR.\u00a0Their wealth has been estimated by Forbes<\/a> <\/em>at $1.9 billion, $1.8 billion, and $1.9 billion respectively.<\/p>\n

The mining company was at one stage one of the most valuable companies in the U.K., with a market capitalization of \u00a320 billion ($26 billion). It bought mines in troubled parts of Africa, including Congo and Zimbabwe, that later became the focus of bribery allegations, which it denies.<\/p>\n

Burgis told The Daily Beast: \u201cThe billionaires who control ENRC holiday in the south of France with presidents or on superyachts half as long as the Titanic [Uzbekistan-born Ibragimov, spends much of his time on a reported 26-cabin<\/a>, $200 million yacht]. They snap up Damian Hirsts and hire Craig David to serenade their birthday guests.<\/p>\n

But more importantly, their money is power in the rawest sense. In places like Kazakhstan and Congo, where life can be tragically cheap and rulers serve the cause of their own enrichment, oligarchs such as these have power like that of the old imperialists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have extended that power into the rich democracies with the help of lawyers, bankers, spin doctors, lobbyists and spies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerns about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths of the men have been aggravated by the revelation that the two were seen by British prosecutors as potential witnesses in one of the U.K.\u2019s biggest corruption probes.<\/p>\n

The men had held senior positions in the African division of ENRC, which is at the center of a massive seven-year bribery and fraud investigation by the U.K.\u2019s Serious Fraud Office.<\/p>\n

Springfield police announced at the time that the cause of death was cerebral malaria; however, the case was never formally closed.<\/p>\n

In May this year, a local police spokesperson directed further inquiries to the FBI, saying the Bureau had \u201ctaken over the investigation of this case,\u201d according to Burgis in a piece published in the Financial Times<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Bethel and Strydom, Burgis says, were \u201camong the most senior ENRC officials running the African operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

However in 2015 they decided to leave the company; Britain\u2019s Serious Fraud Office subsequently made contact with Bethel and they were apparently interested in contacting Strydom, Burgis reports.<\/p>\n

In May 2015, after they had left the company, the men flew from Johannesburg via Amsterdam to Chicago, and set off along Route 66 on rented motorcycles, but died in the early stages of the trip.<\/p>\n

Burgis says that when the cause of death was announced, \u201ccolleagues of the dead men were immediately skeptical that two men could die of malaria on the same night in the same motel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Wassmer, a malaria expert at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who reviewed documents obtained by Burgis, said \u201cthe likelihood of two separate people developing the disease at the exact same time and dying the same night is almost certainly nil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CDC did not respond to questions from Burgis. The FBI and SFO also declined to comment.<\/p>\n

ENRC, which is counter-suing the SFO for alleged wrongdoing in the way it conducted its investigation, told London\u2019s Financial Times<\/em> <\/a>that it denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pair of potential whistleblowers who knew the inside story of a company operated by three of the richest men in Kazakhstan were both found dead at a motel in Springfield, Missouri, mid-way through a Route 66 road trip on … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t