The deputy chairman of the committee for archives and documentation of the Ministry of Culture and Sport (MCS), as well as the director of an IT company, have been convicted of embezzling more than 105 million tenge allocated for the development of an information system (IS).
According to the press service of the Agency for Financial Monitoring, the system was being developed as part of the implementation of the state programme 'Digital Kazakhstan'.
"It was established that the embezzlement was carried out by allocating and transferring budget funds for the technical support of the 'Unified Electronic Document Archive' information system, repeatedly, using computer technology terminology for work already completed," the statement said.
It is reported that the technical specification of the IS was previously developed and brought into operation by the contractor itself, which assumed obligations for warranty and technical support.
However, the committee's management, having allocated budget funds for the already completed work, repeatedly transferred them to the developer under fictitious acceptance certificates.
"The stolen funds were used to purchase expensive movable and immovable property, which, in order to conceal its criminal origin and introduce it into legal circulation, was registered in the names of trusted individuals," the AFM reported.
As a result, the court sentenced the deputy chairman of the committee and the head of the IT company to 6.5 years in prison, with recovery of the damage caused, deprivation of state awards, and a lifelong ban on holding state and managerial positions in commercial organisations for a period of 7 years.