The Prosecutor's Office of the Aktobe Region has announced the initiation of a criminal case regarding the breach of a dam at the Shcherbakovskoye Dam in the Aiteke Bi District.
According to the press service of the department, the dam burst on 30 March. Due to the threat of flooding, local authorities evacuated 927 people from the village named after Zhurgenov, of whom 215 were children.
Furthermore, as a result of the dam breach, the floodplain of the Irgiz River overflowed its banks. Consequently, water flooded 78 households, while 10 houses were destroyed. Electricity and gas supply lines were damaged, leaving the village without electricity, water, or gas.
It is reported that the breached dam is on the balance sheet of the State Institution "Department of Natural Resources and Regulation of Natural Resource Use of the Aktobe Region".
It has become known that in 2023, a contractor - the production cooperative "SK Grand Canal" repaired the dam and handed the facility over to the regional department for natural resources.
"During the flood period, the facility, accepted by the customer and handed over by the contractor, did not fulfil its main function, which resulted in significant harm to the rights and legitimate interests of residents, as well as to the organisations of the village named after T. Zhurgenov. Taking into account the above circumstances, the Prosecutor's Office of the Aiteke Bi District of the Aktobe Region has decided to register a criminal case in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under Part 1 of Article 371 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (negligence)", the statement reads.
The criminal case has been forwarded to the Department of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Aktobe Region.