The Kokshetau City Court has sentenced the director of a limited liability partnership convicted of embezzling budget funds on an especially large scale during the completion of two residential buildings, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to the official Telegram channel of the courts of Akmola Region, the man was tried under Article 189, Part 4, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code (embezzlement of budget funds on an especially large scale, committed repeatedly), Article 385, Part 1 of the Criminal Code (forgery of an official document) and Article 385, Part 3 of the Criminal Code (use of a knowingly forged document).
The court established that in December 2021 the director signed public procurement contracts with the Kokshetau construction department for the completion of two residential buildings, worth 618 million and 634 million tenge. The apartments in these buildings were intended for citizens from socially vulnerable groups.
In May 2022, the defendant received 55 million tenge for one of the sites but never began construction. In the same period, using forged documents, he received an advance of 225 million tenge for the second site; the partnership carried out the work only partially and submitted completion certificates showing that the unworked advance amounted to 156 million tenge. In 2023, seeking to increase advance payments, the director of the LLP submitted forged documents to the construction department and received an additional advance.
From July 2023 he stopped work on the second site and used the funds received to pay off the partnership's debts and for his own needs: he transferred them to settle debts to counterparties under other obligations in Aktau, and cashed part of the sum through ATMs. According to the court, budget funds were thus embezzled.
The state, represented by the construction department, suffered material damage totaling 211 million tenge. No civil claim was filed because of existing civil court rulings to recover the advance amounts and to recognize the LLP as an unscrupulous participant in public procurement.
The man's guilt was confirmed by the testimony of the victim, witnesses and confrontations, an audit report, documents on the movement of funds, the condition of the construction sites, court rulings on recovery of advance amounts from the LLP, expert and specialist conclusions, responses from the insurance company and the state credit bureau, and other case materials.
The court found the director of the LLP guilty under Article 189, Part 4, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to 8 years and 6 months in prison, with a ban on holding financially responsible positions in all organizations of all forms of ownership for 8 years. Under Article 385, Part 3 of the Criminal Code, the defendant was found guilty and released from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Under Article 385, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, he was found not guilty and acquitted for lack of evidence.
The court ruling had not entered into force at the time of publication.