In September 2023, police in the Zhambyl region detained a group of people who were illegally selling driving licences at the specialised public service centre (SpetsTsON) in Taraz.
According to the press service of the regional prosecutor's office, two SpetsTsON employees, a specialist programmer and four intermediaries, illegally issued driving licences to 21 residents of the Zhambyl, Turkestan, and Almaty regions and the city of Shymkent in exchange for monetary rewards.
These individuals had previously failed their driving tests and were not licensed to drive.
"Specifically, an employee of the SpetsTsON in Taraz used the information system, via an accomplice who was a specialist programmer at the SpetsTsON in Almaty, to approve a successful driving test pass for a resident of the Turkestan region, even though that individual had never taken the practical test," the statement said.
The Taraz SpetsTsON employee collected amounts ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 tenge from citizens of other regions who submitted documents through intermediaries, and distributed the money among the group members.
Ultimately, Court No. 2 in Taraz sentenced the accused to suspended prison terms of between 3.6 and 4.6 years. At the same time, following claims by the prosecutor's office, the illegally issued driving licences were declared invalid.
It is worth recalling that in April last year, the Anti-Corruption Service uncovered corruption risks in vehicle registration and the issuance of driving licences at the country's SpetsTsONs. Agency employees had been entering false data and issuing forged documents.
In May, workers at a SpetsTsON in Astana, along with police officers and civilians involved in the illegal registration of cars imported from abroad without paying the required fees and duties, were sentenced.
Later, the Anti-Corruption Service in Almaty began a pre-trial investigation into the deputy head of Specialised Department No. 1 for Public Services, a branch of the 'State Corporation' NJSC 'Government for Citizens'. He is suspected of embezzling 930,000 tenge from a businessperson.
In October, in the Karaganda region, a former head of a SpetsTsON and a deputy head of a TsON were detained. They are suspected of illegally registering heavy goods vehicles. The damage to the state exceeded 315 million tenge.
In December, the Financial Monitoring Agency concluded a criminal case against the former head of the SpetsTsON in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The suspect received bribes for assisting individuals in passing the theory test required to obtain a driving licence. The criminal proceeds from these activities exceeded 32 million tenge.