A verdict has been handed down in the Turkistan Region in a case concerning the embezzlement of budget funds within the education system of the Shardara District. On the defendants' bench were 15 people, including the head of the district education department and accountants.
According to Informburo.kz, the accused acted as part of an organised group: they arranged fictitious salaries for non-existent employees and then transferred the money to their own accounts. The funds were spent on personal needs, including the purchase of property. The total amount of damage was almost 4 billion tenge.
All property obtained through criminal means was confiscated to the state's revenue. Among the confiscated items were residential houses, apartments, and around 20 items of movable and immovable property. Also, a gold sales outlet in a large shopping centre was seized from one of the convicted individuals.
The main defendant received 10 years' imprisonment, the others received 7 years' imprisonment each. Three defendants over the age of 62 were given restricted freedom. For two defendants with minor children, the court granted a deferral of the execution of their sentence for five years.
Recall that in April, at the Saryagash District Court of the Turkistan Region, a sentence was passed on three heads of the district education department and 8 accountants. They were found guilty of embezzling 550 million tenge by transferring salaries to people who did not actually work in the education sector.