The Almaty police department has reported the detention of the head of Tender Exchange LLP, Chingis Kurmangaliyev.
According to Shyndyk.kz, the investigation department is conducting a criminal case under Article 190, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (“Fraud committed on a large scale”).
“The suspect has been placed in a temporary detention facility, and the court has chosen a preventive measure in the form of custody. Other details of the investigation, in accordance with Article 201 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, are not disclosed,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, journalist Mikhail Kozachkov wrote back in February here that the prosecutor’s office of the Medeu district of Almaty had registered a criminal case against Kurmangaliyev based on a statement from 11 people.
Kozachkov noted that the businessman became widely known after his brother Almas Kurmangaliyev was convicted in the case of the “Mudarabah Capital” financial pyramid and sentenced to 14 years in prison. As the journalist wrote, during the proceedings other defendants claimed that the money they had collected could have been appropriated not only by Almas but also by Chingis, but the authorities did not take these assertions seriously.
According to Kozachkov, statements against Kurmangaliyev were filed not only in Almaty but also in Astana: in the capital, the appeal was signed by seven investors of Tender Exchange.
They reported that they were promised high dividends, significantly exceeding bank rates, but ultimately the people were left without their money or deposits.
Incidentally, Kurmangaliyev had previously filed a lawsuit against ZTB MEDIA LLP. He sought to protect his honour, dignity, and business reputation, to refute information published by the media resource, and to claim compensation for moral damages.
As follows from the case materials, on January 15th the Telegram channel “ZTB NEWS” published material containing allegations about Kurmangaliyev’s involvement in a financial pyramid and the damage caused.
According to the plaintiff, the editorial office disseminated the information without proper legally significant sources: the person whose messages formed the basis of the publication was not a victim at the time the material was released.
Representatives of ZTB, in turn, stated that they merely conveyed the words of a third party. Kurmangaliyev considers this data unreliable and requiring refutation.
The fate of Kurmangaliyev’s civil lawsuit against “ZTB NEWS” following his arrest remains unclear.