A court in the Pavlodar region has handed down a sentence in a case involving the embezzlement of more than 62 million tenge from a nursery school's budget, reports infohub.kz.
The court in the Akkuly district found the former director of a kindergarten and an accountant guilty. According to the investigation, from March 2016 to April 2023, the director, in collusion with the accountant, systematically siphoned budget funds through fraudulent salary accruals.
The scheme involved creating fictitious positions and making illegal additional payments. Specifically, the director was fraudulently assigned an additional 0.5 teaching position in mathematics, although no classes were held. The damage from this episode amounted to 4.7 million tenge. Additionally, a close relative of the director was illegally given a position as an English teacher ranging from 0.75 to 1.0 full-time equivalent, causing the state nearly 6.9 million tenge in losses.
The defendants also artificially inflated the payroll by creating fake positions for an accountant and a procurement manager. To conceal their activities, they annually submitted staffing schedules to the district education department and the rural district akimat without mentioning the fictitious positions. The total damage over seven years exceeded 62 million tenge.
The court found the former director guilty under Article 189, Part 4, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan (misappropriation or embezzlement of entrusted property) and sentenced her to seven years in a medium-security facility, with a lifetime ban from holding positions in public service and the quasi-public sector. She was taken into custody in the courtroom.
The accountant was found guilty under Article 28, Part 5 and Article 189, Part 4, Clause 2 (complicity in misappropriation or embezzlement) and sentenced to eight years in prison, with a 10-year ban on accounting activities. Under Article 74 of the Criminal Code, the sentence was postponed for five years due to having a minor child.
The civil lawsuit filed by the Akkuly district education department was fully satisfied: the defendants must repay over 62 million tenge — 15.3 million tenge jointly and 46.6 million tenge individually from the accountant.