Deputy Chair of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Alya Moldabekova has been fined 64,875 tenge for failing to comply with an order from the Higher Audit Chamber (HAC) to recover bonuses paid to employees not involved in managing gold and foreign exchange reserves. The National Bank said it is taking steps to fulfill the order but declined to disclose details of the audit due to confidentiality, according to infohub.kz.
The conflict began in December 2025, when the HAC demanded that the National Bank recover bonuses issued to non-gold-forex staff by April 1. However, clawing back the payments proved legally challenging: the bank explained that the bonuses were awarded under internal rules, and under the Civil Code, such sums are not subject to recovery if employees acted in good faith. Deducting the money from wages would require a court order, and courts would likely reject the claim due to statute of limitations.
Because the order was not executed on time, an administrative offense case was opened against Moldabekova. In court, she asked for the case to be dismissed, citing the legal dead end, but the court sided with the auditors and imposed a fine of 64,875 tenge.
The regulator's press service said it cannot reveal details of the order as the audit results contain confidential and personal data. “As of now, the ruling of the Specialized Interdistrict Court on the administrative offense case dated June 29, 2026, has not entered into force. Guided by the principle of mandatory execution of acts of authorized bodies, the National Bank is taking all necessary measures aimed at executing the order,” the organization stated. The bank emphasized that it complies with the requirements of authorized bodies and is reviewing its internal rules to prevent similar situations in the future.