The head of the pharmacy department of Shymkent city hospital and the director of a limited liability company have been convicted in a case of corruption and fraud.
According to Ratel.kz, in June 2022, Shymkent City Hospital No. 2 entered into a contract for the supply of medicines and medical devices with two private pharmaceutical companies - United Medical Systems and Orleu-Pharm. The transaction amount was 30,602,440 tenge.
It is reported that in both cases, the director of the limited liability company Orleu-Pharm, Karlygash Turapbayeva, acted on behalf of the suppliers.
Within the specified timeframe, she delivered all the necessary goods to the hospital's pharmacy department. However, it later transpired that a number of the medicines had expired by the time of delivery, while others were due to expire within one or two months.
"Upon thorough inspection at the hospital pharmacy, such medicines were found with a total value of 29,662,600 tenge. Naturally, medical staff were categorically prohibited from using these preparations, and the pharmacy department began preparing to write off all the identified expired stock. A report was drawn up as required, and the process of destruction commenced," the report states.
In turn, the head of the hospital's pharmacy department, Yerlan Moldabekov, informed Turapbayeva about the expired medicines. He promised to help avoid any proceedings on this matter. According to Moldabekov, to resolve the problem, a bribe needed to be given to the chief physician of City Hospital No. 2 and other senior officials. The bribe amount was 1,600,000 tenge.
Then, in February of this year, Turapbayeva handed over the agreed sum to Moldabekov.
At that time, covert investigative actions were already underway against the head of the pharmacy department in connection with the same expired medicines. Consequently, at the end of May, the suspects were detained and charged.
"As it turned out, the head of the pharmacy department, Mr. Moldabekov, had no intention of passing on the bribe to anyone, nor did he have the authority to resolve such matters. He acted using fraudulent methods, persuading the businesswoman to give a bribe to senior officials, while planning to keep the entire sum for himself. Therefore, Mr. Moldabekov was charged under Article 190, part 2, paragraph 3; Article 28, paragraph 4 – Article 367, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (fraud and incitement to give a bribe)," the report states.
Turapbayeva was accused of complicity in giving a bribe. In court, both fully admitted the charges brought against them.
Ultimately, the Interdistrict Criminal Court of Shymkent found Moldabekov guilty and sentenced him to a fine of 42,666,667 tenge, along with disqualification from holding positions in state institutions. Turapbayeva was fined ten times the amount of the bribe – 16 million tenge.
They were given four months to voluntarily pay the fines.