The National Security Committee (NSC) has taken action against "grey" grain from Russia, for the legalisation of which farms enter into fictitious deals with traders, mills and other buyers.
According to the Telegram channel "AgroTelega Kazakhstan", in March a court in the North Kazakhstan Region (NKR) declared the deals of the farm "Uteulenova" with a dozen limited liability partnerships (LLPs) to be fictitious. This farm sold grain to these companies totalling 18 thousand tonnes. The damage to the budget amounted to 344 million tenge.
"This is despite the fact that the farm has no agricultural or freight machinery registered at all. In court, the farmer admitted that she could not possibly have produced that volume of grain, and that she had not purchased it from a third party," the statement reads.
It is also reported that the farm "Albina" from the Zhambyl district of the NKR sold LLP "Caspian Trade Commodity" more than 180 tonnes of flax for 114 million tenge.
"In reality, this flax is of unknown origin, and as the head of the farm, Ruslan Kagapov, explained, having only 72 hectares of arable land specifically in 2021 and 2022, his farm did not sow flax. An acquaintance asked him to enter into a fictitious deal, to whom he gave the farm's seal and also issued a power of attorney to withdraw money from the farm's bank account," the statement reads.
Kagapov told this to the court, tax officials and NSC officers who are investigating the criminal case. The damage to the state from this deal exceeded 11 million tenge.
In another case, in the village of Presnoredut, Zhambyl district, farmer Viktor Turnov supplied LLP "NB-TUR-AGRO" with 160 tonnes of flax (at a price of 325,000 tenge/tonne) and 32 tonnes of wheat (at a price of 86,000 tenge/tonne). The deal value was around 103 million tenge.
It is reported that in court the seller could not provide documents confirming the actual delivery, production or purchase of the goods.
Furthermore, it is reported that LLP "NB-TUR-AGRO" appeared in another court case. The company's deal with the farm "Ilyas" for the supply of 70 tonnes of wheat worth 6.7 million tenge was declared fictitious. The damage to the state amounted to 5.7 million tenge.
"Despite having 139 hectares of sown area, the farm has no agricultural or other machinery, nor hired workers. At any rate, these were not presented to the court. This same farm appears as a witness in a criminal case being investigated by the NSC. A reference to the criminal case is also present in the court materials," the statement reads.
In addition, in the village of Razdolnoye, Nauryzym district, Kostanay region, farmer Khuseyn Albastov supplied the capital's LLP "Export Nan Company" with 550 tonnes of wheat for a total of 99 million tenge. The farm sold 2,227 tonnes of products to various companies.
During the proceedings, Albastov admitted that he had no wheat in his fields or in his warehouses. He explained that that year he had sown safflower, not wheat. The farmer stated that an acquaintance had asked him to enter into fictitious deals.
In yet another case, the farm "Utetleuova" entered into 25 contracts with LLP "UNAGRO" worth more than 78 million tenge. At the same time, the farm had only 228 hectares of land, of which only 84 hectares were arable.
According to tax officials' calculations, the gross harvest on such an area could have been just over 60 tonnes.
"The discrepancy between the theoretically grown wheat and the deliveries to the LLP was more than 110 tonnes. The tax authority filed a lawsuit to declare deals worth 62 million tenge fictitious, that is, only for the amount of the discrepancy. Furthermore, the purchase and sale agreement states that grain warehouse receipts would serve as confirmation of the deal, which were never provided to the court," the statement reads.
Additionally, in the Kostanay region, the farm "Berkenov I.Zh." from the Sarykol district, with a sown area of 362 hectares and an average yield of about 20 q/ha, sold more than 4,587 tonnes of products.
In court, farmer Ildar Berkenov claimed he allegedly entered into a land lease agreement with LLP "Olzha Leningradsky", but the company's representative asked for the farmer's documents and did not return them.
It is reported that the farmer's 84 hectares of arable land, with yields of 16 q/ha (in 2021) and 25 q/ha (in 2022), could theoretically have yielded a maximum of 350 tonnes of wheat. However, the discrepancy between the farm's possible gross harvest in 2021 and its sales was 2,384 tonnes of wheat.
"For 2022, the farm 'Berkenov I.Zh.' recorded total sales of over 3,000 tonnes of wheat. That is, the gap between 'fact' and 'paper' for 2022 amounted to about 2,788 tonnes of wheat. The farmer could not provide documents confirming the purchase of all this wheat from third parties within the country or its import from abroad. So, over two years, this small farm sold 'thin air' to the tune of 5,000 tonnes of wheat, which was 'legalised' as Kazakhstani and then used for flour milling or exported," the statement reads.