The editor-in-chief of FBRK has filed a complaint regarding the unlawful use of her personal data by a private company. However, a month and a half later the investigation is effectively not progressing. The case concerning a possible data leak from government bodies is accompanied by procedural violations and redirection between departments.
At the beginning of October, the journalist contacted the police after learning of a complaint filed against her by a private company. The document contained the editor-in-chief's full personal data: surname, first name, patronymic, individual identification number, registered address, and telephone number. She had had no contact with this organisation previously, nor had she given consent for her data to be processed.
The journalist had provided her personal data only to government bodies when submitting official requests as part of her journalistic work. This data was sent, among others, to the state inspectorate committee of the Ministry of Agriculture in connection with reports on the procurement of drones for locust control. Notably, the complaint from the private company also related to matters concerning this same department and the same procurement.
A case file was opened based on the complaint, which was then sent to the district police department of Akmola Region for investigation. The covering letter emphasised the need for a thorough and objective examination of the circumstances.
However, problems began in mid-October. Over the course of one week, four different investigators were assigned to the case, each of whom had to be briefed on the details of the complaint over the phone. Yet the editor-in-chief was never officially summoned to give a formal statement. An attempt to ascertain the case's status led to even more peculiar developments.
A formal request for an update on the investigation was submitted at the end of October. The response was unexpected: for unclear reasons, the case had been redirected from the Akmola regional district office to the Astana Police Department. Subsequently, the capital's department responded that the case file had not been received there.
We suspect these actions indicate possible procedural violations: four changes of investigator in a week, informal telephone conversations instead of formal interviews with recorded testimony, and the unjustified transfer of the case to another region. All of this has effectively stalled the investigation.
The editor-in-chief of FBRK has now filed a new complaint with the Akmola Regional Police Department, requesting an internal inquiry into these violations and to determine who is responsible for redirecting the case to another region. She is also asking for an investigation into the actions of officials who are delaying the processing of the original complaint.
According to our information, the complaint regarding the unlawful use of personal data has been registered, but the case has still not been formally opened.
It is worth noting that a separate court case is ongoing against FBRK founder Kirill Pavlov concerning the drone affair. As part of these proceedings, Pavlov's defence has filed a motion seeking a special ruling and its referral to the prosecutor's office to investigate the circumstances under which the personal data of the FBRK editor-in-chief came into the possession of a private company.