The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) has identified inflated costs for products supplied to people with disabilities in the Pavlodar Region.
According to the agency's press service, the deputy head of the State Institution "Department for Coordination of Employment and Social Programmes of the Pavlodar Region" and the executive director of the LLP "Art-Class" have been put on trial for the embezzlement of budget funds.
It is reported that, following the results of the public procurement tender, the department entered into contracts with LLP "Art-Class" and the Public Association of Disabled People "Ayum i D" for the supply of laptops and mobile phones. The total procurement amount was over 476 million tenge.
However, it came to light that the supplier purchased cheaper analogues of electronic equipment that did not meet the stated technical specifications. This caused damage of nearly 133 million tenge.
"At the same time, a pre-trial investigation has been launched against the supplier for the legalisation of illegally obtained funds by converting them into a bank account and engaging in entrepreneurial activity to extract a profit totalling more than 25 million tenge," the statement says.
In the end, the court found the deputy head of the employment department guilty and sentenced her to 9 years in prison. The supplier was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. Furthermore, the court upheld the civil claim against him for nearly 133 million tenge in favour of the state.