An appellate panel of courts in the East Kazakhstan Region has reviewed the criminal case against the former director and deputy director of the state-owned municipal enterprise Taza Oskemen, as well as a businessman. The previous verdict was overturned, and a new guilty verdict was handed down, according to infohub.kz.

According to the official Facebook page of the East Kazakhstan Region courts, the judicial panel for criminal cases of the regional court overturned the verdict of the interdistrict criminal court of Ust-Kamenogorsk dated July 2, 2026, concerning the former director and deputy director of the state-owned municipal enterprise Taza Oskemen and a businessman. A new guilty verdict was issued in the case.

The appellate instance reclassified the actions of the former director and his deputy as embezzlement of entrusted property on an especially large scale, and the actions of the businessman as aiding and abetting embezzlement. The court of first instance had previously classified these actions as fraud.

The court found that the enterprise annually concluded contracts with the city's housing and communal services department for the maintenance of streets and roads in Ust-Kamenogorsk worth over 1.5 billion tenge.

As part of these works, the director and his deputy arranged the conclusion of nine fictitious contracts with organizations controlled by the third defendant, a businessman.

The documents provided for the supply of sand, road bitumen, and other materials, as well as the provision of services. However, the goods were never actually supplied, and the work was not performed.

Despite this, the enterprise's funds were transferred to the accounts of these organizations, then cashed out and distributed among the participants. The total amount embezzled was 61,199,334 tenge.

The court explained why the charges were reclassified.

It noted that it was essential for the legal assessment that the embezzled funds were at the disposal of the enterprise's managers by virtue of their official duties and were entrusted to them. Unlike fraud, embezzlement involves the unlawful conversion of entrusted property for the benefit of the guilty person or others. The businessman was charged with aiding in the commission of this crime.

In the appellate instance, the former director and deputy were convicted under paragraph 2 of part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the businessman under part 5 of Article 28 and paragraph 2 of part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Each of the three was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment with a lifelong ban on holding positions in public service.

The victim's civil claim was partially satisfied.

Recall that earlier the Agency for Financial Monitoring reported an investigation into the former management of the state-owned municipal enterprise Taza Oskemen and a businessman. It was noted that the suspects had acquired an apartment in an elite residential complex in Ust-Kamenogorsk, BMW X6 M and Subaru Forester vehicles, as well as land plots, which were seized by court order.

A preventive measure of detention for 2 months was imposed on the former director of the state-owned municipal enterprise.