Former Vice-Minister of Culture and Sport Saken Musaybekov, who was previously convicted of fraud, has been appointed to a position in the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan — he has been named Vice-President for Winter Olympic Sports.
According to ORDA, Musaybekov was previously implicated in an anti-corruption investigation. In 2021, he was detained at Astana airport while attempting to fly to Dubai. On his person, they found a women's Hermes handbag and $5,000.
The Anti-Corruption Service stated at the time that he had accepted a bribe of $15,000 for patronage in the field of bookmaking. However, the case was later reclassified from the article 'Accepting a Bribe' to 'Fraud'.
According to the investigation, the promised patronage was not within his authority. Ultimately, the court found Musaybekov guilty and imposed a fine of 62 million tenge.
Despite the sentence, the former vice-minister retained his state awards and property, including a Mercedes-Benz S-Class car. Only the money and bag seized during his detention were subject to confiscation. The bag was later sold at auction for 4.5 million tenge.
At the start of 2025, it became known that Musaybekov had returned to the public sphere. In January, he became the head of the Kazakhstan Hockey Federation.