01-08-2025
Wild History of Jailed Ex-Premier's $3 Million Mansion Keeps Buyers Wary
Business
Open House
A lavish villa owned by a former prime minister who is serving jail time for a coup attempt is struggling to find buyers in Kazakhstan's capital, even at a 40% discount.
The bureaucrats at Kazakhstan's state asset management company are facing a task that's as unusual as it's near impossible: selling a villa of the highest luxury.
The 2,878-square-meter (30,980-square-foot) house in the swankiest corner of the capital, Astana, flaunts over-the-top features that have become a hallmark of luxury properties around the world: A pool with a unique water feature, a dance club and a theater in addition to 30 rooms that include sleeping quarters with a rare four-person bed. And it was once owned by Karim Massimov, the nation's longest-serving prime minister who is now doing jail time for an attempted coup.
