The FBRK editorial team continues its series of articles dedicated to the analysis of the largest public procurements of 2024 in the regions of Kazakhstan.
Our attention has focused on the Atyrau Region, where the most expensive contracts were for property acquisition and utility services. However, the large-scale purchase of housing for the municipal fund worth 3.3 billion tenge raises serious questions about the transparency of the procedures and the justification for spending budget funds.
HOUSING DEALS: 3.3 BILLION TENGE IN QUESTION
The greatest doubts are raised by a series of contracts between the city construction department of Atyrau and a 26-year-old individual entrepreneur, Bekbarys Maratovich Mukhamedzhanov, for the purchase of housing for the municipal fund. The total value of the deals exceeded 3.3 billion tenge for 80 apartments.
Analysis of the documentation reveals multiple procedural violations. Instead of standard public procurement contracts, the portal features ordinary apartment purchase and sale agreements, where Mukhamedzhanov acts as the seller. Meanwhile, this young entrepreneur, registered as an individual entrepreneur only in February 2023 with the activity of "provision of hotel services", suddenly became the owner of dozens of apartments in new buildings.
The scheme involving the first purchase of 760 million tenge looks particularly suspicious. According to the attached documents, Mukhamedzhanov first buys 20 three-room apartments from Asar Kurylys Group LLP for 38 million tenge each, and then immediately resells them to the state at the same price. The public customer does not appear in the initial transactions at all.
FRAGMENTATION AND AVOIDANCE OF COMPETITION
The largest purchase of 1.4 billion tenge was artificially split into 31 separate lots, which made it possible to avoid competitive procedures. All lots went to a single supplier — Mukhamedzhanov. The cost per square metre in different deals ranged from 347 to 391 thousand tenge, and in one case exceeded the limit of 380 thousand tenge set in the technical specifications.
The timing of the deals raises further doubts. In several cases, Mukhamedzhanov purchased apartments in November 2024, and by December had resold them to the state. Such efficiency suggests a pre-agreed scheme.
The public procurement portal contains no information about payment for most of the contracts, although all procedures are formally completed. The supplier operates without VAT, which is atypical for contracts of this scale. In two years of activity, Mukhamedzhanov has participated in only five public procurements — and all exclusively with one customer, invariably winning.
SIGNS OF A SCHEME
The described situation has all the hallmarks of classic budget funds laundering. State money is transferred to an intermediary under the guise of purchasing apartments, who formally "acquires" them from construction companies. The difference between the real and contractual price could amount to tens of millions of tenge of taxpayers' money.
It is unclear how a young businessman specialising in hotel services managed to accumulate property worth billions of tenge. The technical specification required apartments in buildings no older than 2023 with finishing, but the source of such a volume of high-quality housing for Mukhamedzhanov remains a mystery.
SANITARY CLEANING: 3.12 BILLION TENGE
Against the backdrop of the problematic housing purchases, the contract of the Atyrau city department of housing and communal services and housing inspection with Spetsavtobaza LLP for sanitary cleaning appears significantly more transparent. The agreement covers the cleaning of streets, buildings, premises and city areas for a total of 3.12 billion tenge.
The initial cost of the contract was 2.64 billion tenge, but in 2025 an additional agreement increased the amount by 480 million tenge. The execution of the contract is secured by a bank guarantee from ForteBank for 79.3 million tenge. The services are financed from the local budget under the "Ensuring Sanitation of Populated Areas" programme.
This large-scale contract makes Spetsavtobaza LLP responsible for cleaning the entire territory of Atyrau and surrounding districts, positioning it as one of the largest in the region's utility sector.
CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of the largest public procurements in the Atyrau Region presents a contrasting picture. While the sanitary cleaning of the city, despite its scale, appears fairly transparent thanks to bank guarantees and clear targeted financing from the local budget programme, the housing purchase scheme requires immediate intervention by anti-corruption authorities.
The transactions involving the young intermediary entrepreneur contain critical violations of public procurement procedures and indications of budget funds laundering. This situation requires a thorough check of the justification for spending taxpayers' money and compliance with legislation on public procurement. In this regard, the FBRK editorial team has contacted the Anti-Corruption Service with a request to assess possible corruption elements in the scheme for purchasing housing for the Atyrau municipal fund.
Recall that we previously wrote about the largest public procurements of the East Kazakhstan Region. You can read the details on the most expensive contracts of the capital at this link.
The FBRK editorial team will continue to monitor the situation in the field of public procurement and will present an analysis of other regions of the country in future articles.
To be continued...