MAKING SILK PURSE FROM SOW'S EAR -- The Kazakh dictator is planning to spend another million dollars -- from those oil company bribes the Justice Department is investigating? -- to polish his image in the United States. A million dollars buys a lot of polish, but it may not be enough even for the high profile Patton Boggs lobbying firm to make Nursultan Nazarbayev look squeaky clean. And if he's indicted on corruption charges similar to those already filed against his long-time American advisor, James Giffen. Since Giffen's arrest in the largest alleged violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, US-Kazakh "relations have suffered," reports the Financial Times. " Mr Giffen was accused of funnelling more than $78m in payments from Mobil and other oil companies to two senior Kazakh officials. Swiss legal documents reveal that at least one of the accounts where the money was stashed was controlled by Mr Nazarbayev," FT said. Although U.S. and European governments have criticized Nazarbayev's increasingly autocratic rule, his new lobbyists will try to convince American officials that he is really building a democracy. They also will attempt to quash the Justice Department's investigation into high level bribery and corruption, and portray Kazakhstan as a safe place to invest, FT reported. Nazarbayev was probably convinced to put his million dollar investment in Patton Boggs because of the firm's links to the Bush White House and not because of its failure to improve the image of another corrupt, oil-rich client, Saudi Arabia. Nazarbayev wants Patton Boggs to improve his relations with the Congress, the Bush Administration and the American media. Instead of Patton Boggs he should be talking to Johnny Cochran. http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=030530001390&query=kazakhstan&vsc_appId=totalSearch&state=Form

ONLY ONE RAPED WAS JUSTICE -- A report prepared for the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) by Dutch legal experts has thoroughly discredited the Kazakh government's assault case against independent journalist Sergei Duvanov. The new document leaves little doubt that the only assault that took place was on Duvanov's rights and the rule of law. An investigative reporter and human rights activist, he had been threatened, harassed and brutally beaten as a result of stories about high level corruption in the Nazarbayev regime, culminating with charges last Oct. 28 that he had raped an underage girl; three months later to the day he was convicted and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. International human rights and journalism groups and assorted governmental bodies condemned the charges and trial, calling them politically motivated and legally unsound. That was confirmed by the just published OSCE report. The two experts -- Ferdinand J.M. Feldbrugge and William Simons -- found: the government had committed "serious procedural violations"; its "evidence was not sufficient to reach a conviction"; that the defense's theory of a conspiracy against Duvanov "has not been adequately refuted," and the police investigation "cannot be considered to have been full and objective." http://www.osce.org

SMEAR CAMPAIGN BACKFIRES -- The bribery scandal that could result in the indictment of President Nursultan Nazarbayev by an American grand jury actually began as an attempt by the Kazakh dictator to smear one of his political rivals, according to the Moscow Times. Nazarbayev and his operatives had reportedly tried to sic Belgian authorities on the rival -- widely believed to be former Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, the leader of the pro-democracy movement -- to deflect attention from themselves. The investigation, which began in Belgium and quickly spread to Switzerland and America, shifted focus and soon shone its spotlight on Nazarbayev and his American advisor, James Giffen, who has since been indicted on bribery, tax evasion and several other charges. The investigation by a Manhattan grand jury is continuing despite personal pleas to the White House by Nazarbayev himself to derail it. http://www.themoscowtimes.com

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