Nine people have been found guilty of fraud in the sale of apartments at three residential complexes in Astana. Their actions affected 140 buyers who lost more than 5.36 billion tenge, and the victims have still not been reimbursed, infohub.kz reports.
The court found that, starting in December 2020, a group of individuals operating under the guise of construction companies raised money from citizens for apartment purchases in the R-Club and R-Club Deluxe residential complexes. One of the defendants was the group's de facto leader.
Between February 23, 2022, and July 19, 2023, the fraudsters signed fictitious apartment reservation agreements with buyers. As a result, 135 people lost 5.14 billion tenge.
In addition, some members of the group resold apartments in the under-construction Arai Apartments complex at 6/5 Kenesary. Five more people were affected, suffering losses of 228 million tenge.
On October 12, the Interdistrict Criminal Court of Astana found all nine defendants guilty of fraud on an especially large scale.
The group's de facto leader was sentenced to 10 years in prison with asset forfeiture. The other eight received the following sentences: one defendant — 8 years and 6 months; four — 7 years each; two — 6 years and 6 months each; one — 5 years in prison.
One of the convicted individuals, who received 6 years and 6 months, had his sentence deferred by one year.
In addition, all nine convicted individuals were banned from engaging in construction and from raising money from citizens and investments for 10 years.
Assets obtained through criminal means were confiscated to the state. The court also considered the victims' civil claims, but details of those decisions were not provided in the report.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that in February 2026 the Astana prosecutor's office sent to court criminal cases related to the construction of the Oazis, R-Club, and R-Club Deluxe residential complexes.
According to the prosecutor's office, the developers' actions affected more than 426 families, and total damages were estimated at 8.2 billion tenge.
The investigation established that the organizers raised shareholder funds without the necessary permits, misused the money, and carried out construction of the residential complexes improperly.
To secure the victims' claims, the court seized the suspects' property, including 10 apartments, 36 land plots, 16 non-residential premises, and 49 vehicles.
The developer of R-Club and R-Club Deluxe was Rusaldinq Line. The residential complexes had been scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2022, but construction was not finished on time. The company's executives were detained in 2023.