In district court No. 2 of the Bostandyk district of Almaty, the organiser of a study centre was convicted of fraud involving promises of overseas education.
According to the court's press service, the defendant organised and headed a study centre, actively advertising online "100% admission" of children to foreign universities and study on the Foundation programme at their place of residence. On these terms, he attracted 112 citizens and collected over 168 million tenge.
To pay for the tuition, he offered a scheme for quick arrangement of instalment plans or loans with additional discounts. However, the promised certificates and tuition were not provided.
The defendant did not admit guilt and requested to be acquitted or for the case to be returned to the prosecutor for further investigation.
As a result, the court sentenced him to 7 years in prison. Taking into account the amnesty marking the 30th anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the final term was 5 years, 7 months and 6 days in prison.
A mitigating circumstance was the partial compensation of damages to 7 of the 112 victims. The civil claims were satisfied in full — over 168 million tenge was recovered from the defendant in favour of the victims.
Recall that earlier, over a hundred Almaty families appealed to the President and the Prosecutor General with a request to investigate the conflict involving the "Metastudy" study centre.
According to the parents, the centre collected significant sums for preparing children for admission to prestigious schools, then closed down, and the families were unable to get their money back. It was reported that the police discontinued the criminal case, deeming the dispute a civil matter.