Almaty Court Returns Nikolsky Market Land to University, Annuls Sham Sale

After 15 years of legal battles and resales involving prominent figures, the fate of the legendary Nikolsky Market plot in Almaty has been decided. A city court has invalidated a sham sale of the land and ordered its return to its rightful owner.

On February 19, the court ruled that a contract for the sale of the historic plot on Karasai Batyr Street was fictitious. This deal represented a final loophole exploited by associates of businessman Aidos Kospayev. In October 2024, while Kospayev was under investigation, the asset was transferred using forged documents to a nominal buyer identified as A.B.

The court annulled this transaction and instructed state authorities to restore ownership rights to Almaty Technological University (ATU). The ruling obliges the relevant government body to cancel the registration record transferring ownership to A.B., remove it from the national real estate registry, and reinstate ATU as the legal owner.

Notably, neither representatives of "Nikolsky Investment" LLP nor the nominal buyer A.B. Appeared at the hearing.

University representatives informed the court that even after previous deals were declared illegal, they were unable to register their ownership rights because A.B. Had suddenly appeared in the database as the owner. They argued this sale was a "sham" transaction backdated with counterfeit paperwork.

They further noted that Aidos Kospayev, owner of "Nikolsky Investment," was in custody at that time and could not have authorized such a sale without investigative permission in September 2024.

A critical point was the absence of any payment for the property. No cash or bank documents confirmed that over 354 million tenge allegedly paid for the asset ever reached company accounts. The nominal buyer himself confirmed this during related criminal proceedings against Kospayev's associates.

A.B. Testified that he received one million tenge simply for signing documents and never intended to become an actual property owner. Furthermore, at the time of this purported sale in 2024, the building remained under arrest as part of a criminal case against Kospayev's organized crime group, making any transactions with it illegal.

The protracted legal disputes and frequent changes in ownership ultimately led to demolition of Nikolsky Market in 2020, ending over a century of history for one of Almaty's most iconic locations.

The market was founded in 1915 as Zubovskaya Square. It was later renamed Proletarsky, then Kirovsky Market; its final name—Nikolsky—likely came from its proximity to St. Nicholas Cathedral.