The Interdistrict Criminal Court of Astana has delivered a verdict against the former chairman of the management board of JSC NC "KazAvtoZhol" Askar Muratuly and the director of LLP "Asyl-ZHAS" Kazbek Zhumageldiev.
According to the capital's court press service, they were accused of embezzling state funds. The investigation established that in 2019, Askar Muratuly was appointed akim of the Akmola region. At the same time, the Akmola branch of JSC NC "KazAvtoZhol" and LLP "Asyl-ZHAS" entered into a procurement contract for the repair of a bridge over the Ishim River on the "Zhaksy-Esil-Buzuluk" highway worth 2.2 billion tenge. However, the funds were not transferred to the contractor.
In April 2021, Askar Muratuly was appointed chairman of the management board of JSC NC "KazAvtoZhol". In June of the same year, the contract was terminated at the initiative of the customer.
In October, Muratuly issued an illegal order for a single-source procurement from a consortium of LLP "Dike" and LLP "Asyl-ZHAS" for over 2.2 billion tenge for the major repair of the very same "Zhaksy-Esil-Buzuluk" road, including bridge construction.
"At the same time, by court decisions dated 21/01/2020 regarding LLP 'Asyl-ZHAS' and dated 07/10/2021 regarding LLP 'Dike', rehabilitation procedures were applied, with accounts payable exceeding 264 million tenge and 685 million tenge respectively", the statement says.
In December, under the contract, 200 million tenge were transferred to the account of LLP "Asyl-ZHAS", which Muratuly and Zhumageldiev stole and embezzled.
The defendants did not admit their guilt and requested acquittal. The court found Askar Muratuly and Kazbek Zhumageldiev guilty and sentenced them to 8 years in prison each.
Furthermore, Muratuly was permanently banned from holding positions in the civil service and quasi-public sector entities, while Zhumageldiev had his property confiscated and was banned from holding leadership positions in financial and commercial organisations for 10 years.
Let us recall that the Kokshetau transport prosecutor's office identified a fact of unlawful conclusion of a contract without a tender for the repair of the "Zhaksy-Esil-Buzuluk" road back in September last year. At that time, it was reported that JSC "NC "KazAvtoZhol" had applied to the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM) with a statement requesting measures be taken against the allegedly unscrupulous contractor LLP "Asyl-Zhas".