In the specialised inter-district criminal court of the Turkestan region, sentences were handed down to 46 employees of the Zhetysay district education department. They were found guilty of embezzling entrusted property.
According to the press service of the region's courts, the dock included two heads of department and 44 school accountants.
"The defendants - officials of the Zhetysai district education department (M. and Sh.), as well as 44 school accountants - committed theft of budget funds, by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, through the illegal transfer of wages to the bank accounts of acquaintances and relatives who did not actually work in the schools," the statement said.
The criminal acts were carried out from 2021 to 2023. The damage amounted to more than 4 billion tenge. During the investigation, 43 school accountants returned embezzled funds totalling more than 800 million tenge to the state.
The heads of department did not admit guilt. The remaining defendants fully admitted their guilt and asked for a lenient sentence.
By the verdict of the jury, the main defendants in the criminal case – the heads of the department – were sentenced to 9 and 10 years in prison respectively. The sentence for one of the convicts was postponed for 5 years due to having young children.
The actions of two defendants were reclassified under Part 1 of Article 371 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("Negligence") and they were sentenced to 1 year of restriction of liberty.
34 defendants under Article 189, Part 4, Paragraph 2 ("Embezzlement of entrusted foreign property") were sentenced to 5 to 8 years in prison. Of these:
- 4 defendants had their sentences postponed for 5 years due to having young children;
- 18 defendants were given a suspended sentence;
- 12 defendants were sentenced to actual imprisonment;
At the same time, the remaining defendants were sentenced to restriction of liberty for a term of 1 to 3 years.
"The issue of compensation for damages has been left to be resolved through civil proceedings. The verdict has not yet entered into legal force," the conclusion states.