I’m afraid of Fever Ray

David Leppard

TWO serving MI6 officers have allegedly leaked confidential information to a firm of private consultants with links to the

family of the president of Kazakhstan.

The consultants are said to have been commissioned to obtain the information at a time when the American justice department

was investigating allegations of bribes paid by American oil companies to **********, the Kazakh president, and his top

officials.

A 300-page report, said to have been prepared by the consultants, purports to summarise confidential MI6 files on political

and economic issues affecting the oil-rich state.

One MI6 officer is said to have divulged that MI6 was “closely observing” the role of Hurricane Hydrocarbons, a Canadian oil

company, and financial arrangements involving oilfields in Kazakhstan. A second MI6 officer is alleged to have revealed

information that the service held on Akezhan Kazhegeldin, the former Kazakh prime minister. The report also contains

information that it claims was given by Scotland Yard detectives.

The leaked document has been circulating in Washington for several months. Lawyers with knowledge of the case accept that the

authors of the report may have embellished details of their contacts with law enforcement officials on both sides of the

Atlantic.

Yesterday a Whitehall security official said the report did not appear to match MI6’s own records. Arman Baisuanov, a

counsellor at the Kazakhstan embassy in London, denied that his government had been involved in any inappropriate or illegal

activity.

********** is chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee which is responsible to parliament for overseeing the affairs

of MI6. He said he was alarmed at suggestions that serving British intelligence officers might have leaked information that

could have found its way into the hands of people whom the agency was monitoring.

“If true, these allegations raise very serious concerns and I expect the government to investigate them,” he said.

The Sunday Times has seen a copy of a report by Global Options Management, a firm of private security consultants with

offices in Washington and, previously, in London.

The company is chaired by **********, who is an economic adviser to the Kazakhstan government and a director of the country’s

sovereign wealth fund. Political opponents of the Kazakh regime claim that ********** is ********** “point man” in Washington

and that he helps to manage some of the Kazakh leader’s wealth.

********** last week declined to comment. **********, his spokesman, said: “********** is a respected business consultant

based in the United States who rigorously abides by the laws and regulations of any country in which he operates.”

Privately, aides said ********** was “aware” of a report. But, shown a copy of the relevant extracts of the report, they

declined to comment publicly.

********** has admitted in the past that he has had dealings with **********, the president’s daughter who is an opera

singer. But he denies that his firm had been hired by her to compile the document.

**********, the president’s former son-in-law, has claimed that ********** has diverted billions of dollars in state assets

and has long taken commissions from foreign companies doing business in Kazakhstan.