The appeal instance upheld the decision of the court of first instance regarding LLP «Metrological Expert», which carried out the verification of «Sergek» cameras. The metrology company not only received a multi-million fine, but also lost the right to operate for the next six months.
The Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology of the Ministry of Trade identified serious violations in the work of the verification laboratory. 48 administrative protocols were drawn up against LLP «Metrological Expert» in Astana, with a total fine of 8.3 million tenge for violating the requirements of the accreditation law.
“The verification laboratory, when carrying out verification procedures on ‘Hardware and software systems for automatic photo and video recording of traffic violations,’ did not have the appropriate equipment for measurement, and did not comply with environmental conditions, and there were also no records of primary observations”, the department reports.
By court decision of 30 January 2025, the company is not only fined 8.3 million tenge, but is also deprived of its accreditation certificate for measuring motion parameters for six months. This means that LLP «Metrological Expert» will temporarily be unable to carry out verification of traffic violation recording systems.
It is worth recalling that in April of this year, the specialised inter-district economic court of Kostanay Region partially granted the claim of the Department of Informatisation for the termination of the contract with LLP «Korkem Telecom». At the same time, the FBRK editorial team analysed the company's latest legal disputes in the country's largest cities.
In February, the Akimat of Astana announced plans to change the operator of the city's video surveillance system. After the completion of the contract with the developer of «Sergek», the capital's authorities intended to enter into a public-private partnership agreement with the Emirati company Presignt, ready to invest 53 billion tenge in the project.
At the same time, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology, Bauyrzhan Kassymov, disclosed information about serious violations in the verification procedure of hardware and software systems. According to his data, in 2024, territorial departments ignored mandatory checks of video recording cameras, and laboratories responsible for equipment verification allowed critical procedural violations.
In parallel, the conflict in the East Kazakhstan Region remains unresolved, where Sergek Group refuted the statements by Akim Yermek Kosherbayev about non-functioning cameras left without software after the completion of the public-private partnership (PPP).
Furthermore, in June last year, our editorial team covered in detail the development of the Intelligent System for Control on Highways (ISCH) – a joint project of Freedom Telecom and Sergek Group. In July, we presented an analysis of the «Sergek» system, which even then was causing constant debate about its efficiency and safety.
January of last year also brought high-profile revelations in the Kostanay Region, where numerous violations were uncovered during the installation of cameras. The company «Korkem Telecom», which was implementing the «Sergek» system, turned out not to meet technical and legal requirements, did not have exclusive rights to the software, and lacked necessary certificates.
The new court decision regarding the metrologists once again raises the question about the future of Sergek Group in Kazakhstan. Against the backdrop of court decisions in the Kostanay Region and increasing inspections across the country, the company's prospects look increasingly uncertain. Will Sergek Group be able to restore the trust of state bodies, or is it destined to face a series of lawsuits and contract terminations in other regions? Much will likely depend on the company's ability to prove that its systems comply with the technical and legal requirements of Kazakh legislation in the face of growing regulatory oversight.