Hunter Biden‘s business partner helped supply military vehicles to Putin-backed forces that invaded Ukraine, a report by transparency activists claims.
Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev, who sent Hunter $142,300 to buy a Porsche in 2014, hired him as a consultant to invest millions in the US, and was even photographed at an intimate meeting with Joe Biden, according to emails, records and their friend Devon Archer’s congressional testimony.
Rakishev, 44, is allegedly co-owner of Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering (KPE), which makes Arlan mine-resistant armored platform (MRAP) vehicles, according to a new report by transparency group the Kazakhstani Initiative on Asset Recovery (KIAR), based on Rakishev’s leaked emails.
The tank-like armored trucks were spotted on the streets of Mariupol in April 2022, driven by Chechen troops that invaded Ukraine alongside Russian forces.
Kenes Rakishev (left), a Kazakh businessman worth more than $950million who became friends and business partners with Hunter, is seen in a photo with Hunter, Joe Biden and the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov
Rakishev is allegedly owner of a company that makes mine-resistant armored vehicles which were seen driven by Chechen troops that invaded Ukraine
Hunter’s former business partner Rakishev has entered the spotlight of the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s shady business dealings, with his payments to Hunter and meetings with Joe detailed in a new memo released by the Committee Wednesday, supported by subpoenaed bank records.
KIAR’s report says Rakishev has co-owned the company since 2015 with a South African defense contractor, Paramount Group.
His alleged ownership has previously been obfuscated behind a complex corporate structure, but has now been revealed after his emails were leaked.
The Kazakh businessman, reportedly worth over $300 million, has close ties to his country’s military. His father-in-law Imangali Tasmagambetov was the former Defense Secretary, and was on the board of another firm that supplied military trucks to Russia, the report said.
The armored Arlan truck manufacturer KPE has denied a close relationship with Russia’s military, saying they gave one Arlan vehicle to Putin’s National Guard in 2019 but that ‘further cooperation with Russians did not continue.’
They also claimed that ‘Kenes Rakishev and Imangali Tasmagambetov have nothing to do with the enterprise.’
But KIAR’s report, based on corporate records and Rakishev’s leaked emails, says he controlled two companies that own KPE: KazPetroMash and InterTechAudit.
Emails in Cyrillic allegedly show Rakishev approving transactions by the two firms.
In April 2012, Devon Archer sent Hunter an email with the subject line ‘Kenes Rakishev meeting NYC’ and spoke of his plans to meet with the oligarch to discuss business
Hunter’s business partner and former ‘best friend in business’ Devon Archer testified to the House Oversight Committee that Rakishev met with Joe and his son at Washington DC restaurant Café Milano in Spring 2014
Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who is under US sanctions for his involvement in Putin’s Ukraine invasion, was quoted gushing about ‘my dear brother Kenes Rakishev who has always been a patron of our important projects,’ in a July 2016 article on Russian-language news site Grozny-Inform.
On March 17, 2022, Kadyrov posted a video on Russian social media site VKontakte showing the storming of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which included a shot of an Arlan armored car allegedly sold by Rakishev’s company.
A November 2022 report by military news site Oryx claimed that Chechen forces ‘include a small number of Arlan MRAPs (South African designed Marauder MRAPs) from Kazakhstan‘.
A photo obtained by KIAR shows Joe, Hunter, Rakishev and then-Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov at an intimate meeting.
Hunter’s business partner and former ‘best friend in business’ Devon Archer testified to the House Oversight Committee that Rakishev met with Joe and his son at Washington DC restaurant Café Milano in Spring 2014.
Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov is pictured to the right of Rakishev in an undated photo. Kadyrov is under US sanctions for his involvement in Putin’s Ukraine invasion
Rakishev and Kadyrov are pictured together. Kadyrov was quoted gushing about ‘my dear brother Kenes Rakishev who has always been a patron of our important projects,’ in a July 2016 article on Russian-language news site Grozny-Inform
In April, Rakishev sent $142,300 to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a company equally co-owned by Hunter and Archer, the former friend of the First Son said.
Archer claimed Hunter was selling the Biden ‘brand’ to his foreign business partners, flexing his political influence by having Joe talk to Hunter’s business partners on speakerphone during meetings.
In a press release Wednesday along with the House Oversight Committee’s memo on Rakishev’s payments to the First Son, Republican committee chairman James Comer said Hunter was selling access to the president.
‘During Joe Biden’s vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as ‘the brand’ to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine,’ Comer said.
‘It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself. And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered. This is made clear by meals at Café Milano where then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with oligarchs from around the world who had sent money to his son.
‘It’s clear Joe Biden knew about his son’s business dealings and allowed himself to be ‘the brand’ sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States. The House Oversight Committee will continue to follow the money trail and obtain witness testimony to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised or corrupt, and our national security is threatened.’
Source: Daily Mail
