On July 20, the court hearing the case against the leaders of KazTAG questioned lawyer Svetlana Oralbayeva. She testified about consultations with Zhanna Kaparova and stated that publications were not coordinated with her. Kaparova's defense, in turn, pointed out inconsistencies in the lawyer's statements, according to infohub.kz.
According to Oralbayeva, she met Kaparova in the fall of 2024. Kaparova sought her advice on a criminal case related to her mother's financial losses. The lawyer helped her prepare for investigative actions and formulate questions for expert examinations, but had no contract to represent Kaparova's family. Kaparova is one of the defendants. Prosecutors allege she initiated the approach to KazTAG and, along with others, spread false information about Freedom Finance. Kaparova denies the charges, stating she was merely seeking an investigation after her mother lost money through investments with the company.
Later, Oralbayeva began counseling some victims in the case of former Freedom Finance employee Vitaly Svetovoy. In spring 2025, the victims were informed of a meeting that was to include representatives of state agencies and Freedom Finance. People traveled to Astana from various cities, but the meeting did not take place. Afterward, they decided to approach KazTAG, which had recently published an article about Svetovoy's case.
Oralbayeva said that one of the victims contacted editor-in-chief Amir Kasenov and explained that many more people claimed to have lost money than mentioned in the publication. Kasenov invited them to the newsroom to share their stories in detail. According to the lawyer, the victims did most of the talking during the meeting. She barely participated as she was not representing them at that time. After about half an hour, Kasenov suggested starting the recording with her. The lawyer said she was taken aback and asked why. "Now I understand why it was done — so that I would be the primary source," she said. Oralbayeva believes her professional status could have lent more credibility to the publications. However, she emphasized that she did not know all the details and during the recording she herself asked the victims about the circumstances of their cases and the amounts of losses.
During the questioning, Kaparova's lawyer noted that Oralbayeva's role might have been broader than she described. Although Oralbayeva claimed she barely participated in the newsroom conversation, she confirmed that she had consulted Kaparova before meeting Kasenov: she helped prepare questions for the investigation and expert examinations, and discussed documents and potential claim amounts with the victims. "She said she only needed advice on how to behave during investigative actions. I helped her prepare questions for the expert examination based on her account and what needed to be clarified," Oralbayeva said. The defense also recalled Oralbayeva's own words during the recording, where she explained to victims that they could approach the media if they wanted to draw law enforcement's attention to their claims. This contradicted her statement that she does not support going to the press. Oralbayeva explained that she is generally not in favor of publicity, but viewed the media as one of the legally permitted ways to seek a review.
After the recording, the lawyer asked to see the material before publication. She said Kasenov agreed, but the articles were published without prior approval. The lawyer said she saw the publications and immediately wrote that she disliked the presentation format and that the outlet primarily cited her. "Those headlines — 'fraud,' 'top managers' — are Kasenov's words. I never uttered such terms. The headlines were crafted for effect, to attract attention," Oralbayeva said. Her testimony differs from that of Gulmira Isayeva, who was questioned by the court on July 14. Isayeva claimed that the victims contacted the agency on their own because they wanted to share their stories. She said Kasenov asked them to bring documents and warned that he would discuss the materials with lawyers before publication. Earlier, Oralbayeva had signed a mediation agreement with Freedom Finance and retracted her previous statements about the company. She claimed that Kaparova misled her and that her words in KazTAG's publications were taken out of context.
The criminal case against the leaders of KazTAG news agency began in December 2025 after a complaint from Freedom Holding Corp. The company alleged that the agency conducted an information attack against it, publishing about 250 articles linking Freedom to fraud, a Ponzi scheme, and client fund siphoning. Experts examined 12 publications, and a civil court in February deemed their contents false. Following Freedom Finance's complaint, a criminal case was opened against Aset Matayev and Amir Kasenov under Article 274 of the Kazakh Criminal Code — "Dissemination of deliberately false information." The company assessed damages at $613 million, or about 320 billion tenge. Amir Kasenov was detained in late 2025. He later claimed he was subjected to psychological pressure and torture during the investigation, but police denied the allegations. Aset Matayev was detained in March 2026 after a conflict in Almaty and charged with hooliganism. His defense argued that the journalist was actually attacked and suffered serious head injuries. Matayev was later placed under house arrest.