The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) in the Atyrau region has shut down the operations of 5 criminal groups that, by issuing fake documents, facilitated the withdrawal of pension savings from JSC "Unified Accumulative Pension Fund" (UAPF).
According to the agency's press service, the scheme organisers used more than 30 dental clinics, supposedly located in Atyrau, Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Aktau and other regions of the country.
In reality, these medical organisations existed only on paper and did not provide any services to citizens.
"They had no premises, equipment, or qualified staff. The directors and founders of the dental clinics did not even have medical degrees," the FMA statement said.
For preparing false medical documentation, the suspects retained between 10% and 20% of the withdrawn funds. To cash out the money, the criminals used 226 "money mules". In total, they siphoned off over 200 billion tenge.
With the UAPF depositors' money, the suspects purchased 15 cars (Mercedes-Benz G-class, GLE, BMW X7, Porsche Taycan, Cadillac Escalade) worth more than 600 million tenge, branded jewellery, as well as commercial premises, apartments, and land plots.
Law enforcement officials note that they are continuing to search for criminally obtained assets. To date, 59 searches have been conducted. A preventive measure is being selected for 10 individuals.
At the same time, it is reported that during the investigation, only the actions of the organisers of the illegal schemes are subject to assessment. Citizens who received their own pension contributions will not face criminal prosecution.