President Qasym-Jomart Toqaev met with Zhanat Elimanov, chairman of the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM), to receive a report on the agency's performance in the first half of 2026, according to infohub.kz.
In six months, the AFM concluded 496 criminal investigations, compensating victims 22.6 billion tenge. It also neutralized seven criminal groups, four of which were transnational.
The agency added that it dismantled 44 illegal cash-out networks with a turnover of over 176 billion tenge, as well as 12 shadow crypto exchanges used to launder money from drug trafficking and fraud. Additionally, 36 dropper cells were identified, through whose accounts transactions worth 113 billion tenge were conducted, the statement noted.
For the first time in the CIS, a scheme was uncovered involving special equipment that mimicked telecom operators. Attackers mass-distributed phishing messages and attempted to gain access to citizens' personal data.
Special attention was paid to budget spending. The agency prevented unjustified expenditures on 52 infrastructure projects totaling 279 billion tenge. It also identified risks of embezzlement of 10 billion tenge in the commercialization of scientific developments, and a scheme of fictitious enrollment of 140,000 people in private clinics to illegally obtain funds from the Social Health Insurance Fund.
In the first half of the year, the AFM blocked access to 9,000 websites and accounts linked to illegal gambling, shut down 2,300 fraudulent resources and 25 group chats with over 35,000 participants. Following the meeting, Toqaev gave the agency new assignments.