(6 January 2026 | Source: Financial Monitoring Agency)
The investigation into the withdrawal of pension savings through fake dental services has spread to dozens of clinics and hundreds of billions of tenge. According to the Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA), formal contracts and forged medical documents were used to cash out citizens' funds, while the recipients of the pension payments themselves are not subject to criminal prosecution.
HOW THE SCHEME WORKED
According to the FMA, pension savings were withdrawn through the signing of formal contracts for the provision of dental services. Subsequently, forged medical documents were provided, on the basis of which funds were withdrawn from the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF).
For their assistance, the suspects withheld an illegal commission of between 10% and 20% of the amounts withdrawn.
SCALE AND PARTICIPANTS
According to the investigation, 42 dental clinics were involved in the criminal scheme. The total amount of funds withdrawn exceeded 200 billion tenge.
It is reported that the suspects used the proceeds to purchase luxury movable and immovable property, as well as to open new dental clinics, registering them in the names of third parties to conceal their involvement.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES AND THE ROLE OF MEDICAL WORKERS
As part of the investigations, 11 suspects have been placed in custody for a period of 2 months, and three have been placed under house arrest.
The FMA separately notes that doctors at medical institutions issued fake certificates from medical consultation commissions in exchange for systematic illegal payments. The total amount they received was 30 million tenge.
LEGAL STATUS OF CITIZENS
The FMA emphasises: citizens who have received their own pension contributions are not subject to criminal prosecution. A number of pre-trial investigations have been initiated. In accordance with Article 201 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, no further information can be disclosed.
Recall that in September 2025, in the Atyrau region, the FMA shut down the activities of five criminal groups, which, by preparing fake documents, facilitated the withdrawal of pension savings from the UAPF.
It was reported that the scheme's organisers used more than 30 dental clinics, supposedly located in Atyrau, Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Aktau and other regions of the country. To cash out the funds, the perpetrators recruited 226 "money mules".