The Department of the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM) in Almaty has initiated a pre-trial investigation into officials of JSC "Centre for Human Resource Development" and LLP "First Credit Bureau". They are suspected of receiving and giving a large bribe.
According to the agency's press service, the leadership of the credit bureau transferred bribes to the management of the Centre for Human Resource Development in exchange for lobbying their interests in the provision of information services required for processing requests from financial institutions.
Thus, on 28 June, employees of the Almaty Department of Economic Investigations detained the following individuals while a further bribe of $75,000 (38.9 million tenge) was being handed over:
- Ruslan Omarov – General Director of LLP "First Credit Bureau";
- Akmedi Sarbasov – Head of JSC "Centre for Human Resource Development", formerly holding the position of First Vice-Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- Daulet Argandykov – former Head of JSC "Centre for Human Resource Development", previously holding the position of Vice-Minister of Healthcare and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Searches at the detainees' places of residence resulted in the seizure of $370,000 (192.1 million tenge) and 4.5 million tenge in cash. By court order, they have been remanded in custody for a period of 2 months. The investigation is ongoing.