In June 2011, the formidable Kazakh trio of Mr Alexander Machkevich, Mr Patokh Chodiev and Mr Alijan Ibragimov, who made their billions building mining giant ENRC, orchestrated the ouster of the ENRC's Mr Richard Sykes, senior independent director and a former chairman of GlaxoSmithKline and Mr Ken Olisa, another non executive director (head of technology merchant bank Restoration Partners).

Now come reports from London indicating the company has hired investigators to look into allegations of financial irregularities in its Kazakhstan operations. As a result, unhappy shareholders have steered the stock price down, below its peers, despite the company’s lucrative mining assets.

Mr Sykes and Mr Olin were reportedly ousted because of their governance concerns, with Mr Olin pointing out the firm was more Soviet than city. In quick succession, Mr Eduard Utepov and Mr Abdraman Yedilbayev chose not to stand for re election.

The company's current chairman Mr Johannes Sittard announced a corporate governance review with the goal of establishing a new board.

Rumors are swirling that the board will be smaller, Mr Machkevich might take the reigns, or that the trio might be talking takeover.

(Sourced from www.forbes.com)