According to our sources, Kazakh Uighur-origin oligarch Alijan Ihragimov, a shareholder in the mining conglomerate Eurasian Resources Group (ERG - formerly ENRC), has agreed to speak to the Belgian parliamentary committee that is investigating his compatriot and fellow shareholder Patokh Chodiev on October 4. Chodiev is being probed for alleged influence peddling between Paris and Brussels [IO, 782].
Meanwhile, Alexander Machkevitch, anorther ERG shareholder, was recently questioned by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The SFO is inv estigating allegations of corruption involving ERG in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an affair thought to have involved Israeli tycoon Dan Gertier.
Ibragimov and Machkevitch's decision to testify against their partner is a direct consequence of Chodievโs war against the other two shareholders, after paying fake journalist Mark Hollingsworth to place stories about them in mainstream press, as previously reported in Intelligence Online [IO, 772].
To fight back, Chodiev has been making his own behind the scenes manoeuvres and has hired a number of black PR specialists like Charles Carr to spread fake news that the accusations against him are politically motivated, when in fact he was caught red handed with his hands in the till and set to place the blame on others.
