In Shymkent, members of an organised criminal group that provided driver's licences for a monetary reward have been detained.
According to the press service of the Financial Monitoring Agency (AFM), officials led by the head of the specialised Public Service Centre (specialised PSC) No. 2 of the NJSC 'Government for Citizens' Murashimov Zh.R. organised a scheme for issuing driver's licences bypassing the exam procedures.
For these 'services', they charged a fee of between 150 and 400 thousand tenge. As a result, at least 500 people illegally obtained driver's licences.
Assets belonging to the suspects worth over 200 million tenge have been seized pending confiscation. Among the seized assets are: 2 private houses, 2 apartments, 2 land plots and 10 cars.
By court order, a measure of restraint in the form of detention has been selected for 12 suspects. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
"Issuing driver's licences bypassing established procedures poses a real threat to public safety. This is confirmed by the increase in road traffic accidents in the city of Shymkent: their number rose from 398 in 2022 to 878 in 2024", the agency concluded.
It is worth recalling that in April last year, the Anti-Corruption Service identified corruption risks in vehicle registration and the issuance of driver's licences at the country's specialised PSCs. Employees of the agency entered false data and issued forged documents.
In May, in Astana, workers from a specialised PSC, police officers, and civilians who were involved in the illegal registration of vehicles imported from abroad without paying duties and fees were sentenced.
Later, the Almaty Anti-Corruption Service began a pre-trial investigation into the deputy head of Specialised Department No. 1 for Public Services of the branch of the NJSC 'State Corporation 'Government for Citizens'. He is suspected of embezzling 930 thousand tenge from an entrepreneur.
In October, in the Karaganda region, the former head of a specialised PSC and the deputy head of a PSC were detained. They are suspected of illegally registering heavy goods vehicles. The damage to the state exceeded 315 million tenge.
In December, the AFM concluded a criminal case against the former head of the specialised PSC in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The suspect received rewards for assistance in passing the theoretical exam to obtain a driver's licence. The criminal income from these actions exceeded 32 million tenge.
In March of this year, in the Zhambyl region, a group of individuals who were illegally selling driver's licences at the specialised PSC in Taraz were sentenced.