State-funded films "The Choice" (500 million tenge) and "Tyrnalar" (421 million tenge) were never released in cinemas.
According to the press service of the Almaty prosecutor's office, these amounts included the organisation of film production, distribution and promotion abroad.
"Thus, the state is deprived of the opportunity to receive the 20% share of income from the distribution and screening of the film provided for by law", the statement said.
The prosecutor's office noted that the country has not implemented a unified automated information system for monitoring films, which would allow tracking statistics on screenings and tickets sold in all cinemas.
"The work of the Expert Council is subject to particular criticism, as it conducts a biased selection of film projects; moreover, facts have been established where producers, directors, actors, and founders of film companies were simultaneously members of the Expert Council, and subsequently the project received funding, which contradicts Decree No. 113 of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 15.03.2019", the statement said.
Following a prosecutor's oversight order, the deputy chairperson of the culture committee of the Ministry of Culture and Information, as well as the deputy chairperson of the board of NJSC "State Centre for Support of National Cinema", were brought to disciplinary responsibility.
Recall that in June, the Bostandyk District Court of Almaty announced a verdict against the former vice-president of "Kazakhfilm" Serik Zhubandykov.
He was convicted for the theft of the Prop Fortress "city of Turkestan", built at a price 44 times below market value, as part of the film project "Nomad".