On 9 January, the Bostandyk District Court of Almaty pronounced a sentence on the director of the capital construction department of the municipal enterprise "Almaty Su", Maksat Zholdybayev.
According to the press service of the Anti-Corruption Agency, he was found guilty of attempting to embezzle 75 million tenge from an entrepreneur under the pretence of signing certificates of completed work and transferring budget funds. The contract concerned work on the capital repair of the city's sewerage and water supply systems.
Initially, Zholdybayev was given a 5-year suspended sentence with a ban on holding managerial positions in commercial and financial organisations for 5 years.
However, prosecutors appealed against the verdict of the court of first instance. As a result, the Judicial Panel of the Almaty City Court replaced Zholdybayev's suspended sentence with a custodial one, sentencing him to 5 years' imprisonment. The convict was taken into custody in the courtroom.
It is worth recalling that the detention of Maksat Zholdybayev was reported in April last year. It was noted that he had received 75 million tenge (from the agreed 345 million tenge) from a local entrepreneur for signing certificates for allegedly completed work.