The FBRK editorial team continues its report on the total remuneration amounts of members of the executive bodies of Kazakhstan's national companies.
Previously, we wrote about the bonus amounts for board members of JSC "NC "KazMunayGas", JSC "NAC "Kazatomprom", JSC "NC "QazaqGaz", JSC "Kazakhtelecom", JSC "KEGOC", JSC "Samruk-Energy" and JSC "Kazpost", which are part of the Kazakhstani investment holding JSC "FNB "Samruk-Kazyna".
Today we will focus on JSC "National Company "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" (KTZ) - the country's main transport and logistics company.
In the first half of 2024, the national company's profit amounted to approximately 78 billion tenge. For comparison, in the first half of 2023, profit stood at over 108 billion tenge.
In 2020, the executive body of JSC "KTZ", consisting of 8 people, received a total of approximately 391 million tenge. At that time, the board was headed by Sauat Mynbayev.
From 2013 to 2018, he held the position of chairman of the board of JSC "NC "KazMunayGas".
In 2017, journalists from OCCRP found out, that Mr Mynbayev and a group of influential bankers founded the company Meridian Capital Limited, which earned assets worth billions of dollars "thanks to the rapidly developing oil industry of Kazakhstan".
The company grew during Mr Mynbayev's time at "KazMunayGas". Incidentally, Sauat Mynbayev did not immediately confirm his involvement in the profitable company.
Ultimately, owning a stake in an oil company while simultaneously conducting business in a national company represents a clear conflict of interest.
Sauat Mynbayev headed JSC "KTZ" in 2018 and left the post of chairman in 2021 due to an injury.
Since 2021, the national company has been led by Nurlan Sauranbayev.
In 2017-2018, he held the position of akim of Shymkent city, after which he managed the department of state control and organisational-territorial work of the presidential administration.
In 2021, 11 board members of JSC "KTZ" received a total of over 631 million tenge.
In 2022, 10 top managers of the national company were awarded bonuses totalling more than 434 million tenge.
In 2023, the executive body, comprising 8 people, received approximately 687 million tenge.
Let us recall that earlier, the head of the Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) Alikhan Smailov stated, that the national company is in the 'red' zone of credit risk. He noted that at the beginning of 2024, the company's debt amounted to 2.9 trillion tenge and continues to grow.
According to him, 45%, or 1.3 trillion tenge, of the total debt was directed towards refinancing previously incurred debt obligations.
Later, the Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev commented on the information about the large debts of JSC "KTZ". He said that since 2020, the national company has been profitable. And he acknowledged that there was a loss-making period before, and the debt of 2.9 trillion tenge arose because the state did not allocate funds.
At the same time, the Managing Director for Economics and Finance of JSC "FNB "Samruk-Kazyna" Aydar Ryskulov stated, that the company does not consider the aforementioned debt of "KTZ" to be critical, as claimed by the SAC.
To be continued…