Tourism minister brushes aside alleged conflict of interest regarding wife’s hospitality business
Tourism and Sports Minister Yermek Marzhikpayev brushed aside questions about the alleged conflict of interest regarding his wife’s hospitality business in Burabay Resort, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
At a May 14 press briefing at the Government, Minister Marzhikpayev admitted that his family does have a hospitality business, but it has nothing to do with the ministry.
“We established the hospitality business way before I joined the civil service in 2008. It [Ed. the enterprise] is turning 30 years next year,” said Marzhikpayev, claiming the business had become a success way before that.
The minister stressed he sees no conflict of interest in his family owning the business.
“What conflict of interest can a ministry and small hotels that are situated there have? How can you possibly imagine that? This question has been raised repeatedly, but I cannot fathom the way they connected the ministry of tourism and those facilities. There is no conflict of interest,” he insisted.
It bears to remind that Yermek Marzhikpayev served as a governor of the Akmola region where the Burabay Resort is located starting from 2019 through 2023.