At 5 oil and gas enterprises in the Mangystau Region, embezzlement totalling one billion tenge has been uncovered.
According to the press service of the regional prosecutor's office, officials of OilTransportCorporation LLP (a subsidiary of NC KazMunayGas JSC) accepted buses from a supplier that did not meet technical specifications, valued at over 1.5 billion tenge. Furthermore, their cost was inflated by 400 million tenge.
At another enterprise – West Oil Software LLP (a contracting organisation of OilTransportCorporation LLP) – individuals who did not work, including close relatives of company management who were not actually employed there, were paid more than 400 million tenge in wages.
The regional prosecutor's office has initiated 5 pre-trial investigations under Part 4 of Article 189 (misappropriation or embezzlement of entrusted property on a large scale) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is also reported that 4 heads of the enterprises have been detained.
“The criminal cases are being processed by the regional department of economic investigations. Other details are not disclosed in the interests of the investigation,” the statement reads.
It is worth recalling that in December last year, in the village of Zhetibay, Mangystau Region, around 500 workers of the company West Oil Software went on strike, demanding that wage levels be set in accordance with the national company's unified pay system. At the time, it was reported that the average salary at West Oil Software LLP was over 700 thousand tenge.