13 Members of Organized Crime Group Sentenced for Embezzling 1.5 Billion Tenge from Qarmet

In Kazakhstan, a verdict has been handed down to 13 members of an organized crime group who caused damage to Qarmet JSC (formerly ArcelorMittal Temirtau) in the amount of over 1.5 billion tenge, reports infohub.kz.

As reported by the prosecutor's office of the Karaganda region, on August 10, 2026, the inter-district criminal court of Astana found all defendants guilty of embezzlement and participation in an organized criminal group.

The court established that the criminal scheme operated from January 2021 to December 2023. Under the leadership of one of the defendants, group members organized the supply of railway cars to the enterprise, which, under the guise of quality scrap metal, contained a significant amount of slag, sand, crushed stone, earth, and other non-metallic impurities.

"The scheme's participants had pre-assigned roles. Some ensured unimpeded passage of cars into the enterprise and their accelerated unloading, while others facilitated the artificial lowering of scrap contamination indicators. As a result, Qarmet JSC suffered damage amounting to 1 billion 503 million 954 thousand tenge," the prosecutor's office said.

State prosecutors ensured a comprehensive and objective examination of the evidence. As a result, the defendants received various sentences. But criminal liability was not the only consequence of their actions.

At the request of the state prosecution, the court ordered the confiscation of property acquired with criminal proceeds. Among the confiscated items are vehicles, real estate, and funds in the convicts' bank accounts. The total value of the property turned over to state revenue amounted to about 1 billion tenge.

The court also satisfied the claims of Qarmet JSC. The convicts were jointly ordered to pay 803 million 954 thousand 694 tenge in compensation for the damage caused.

The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.

It is worth recalling that earlier it became known that 14 people (former employees of Qarmet and other contractor organizations) are suspected of embezzling one billion tenge.