The transport company M-NefteService LLP was fined 26.8 million tenge for a total overload of heavy goods vehicles by 85 tonnes. Earlier, employees of the transport control inspectorate in the Zhambyl region suspected that the carrier was trying to circumvent the law in order to reduce the collection fees for exceeding weight and dimension parameters.
The story began when, on 13 November, a complaint from representatives of M-NefteService LLP appeared in the media, which claimed that on 6 November in the Zhambyl region, transport control inspectorate employees had unjustifiably detained the company's heavy goods vehicles and taken all cargo transportation documents from the drivers, leading to a multi-day delay of the vehicles.
By that time, the Ministry of Transport had reconstructed the timeline of events at the checkpoint and concluded that the inspectorate employees had every reason to doubt the carrier's integrity.
According to an official statement, on 6 November, six vehicles belonging to M-NefteService LLP voluntarily stopped 150 metres from the transport control inspectorate post in the Zhambyl region. They were transporting parts for wind turbines from China to Uzbekistan.
By law, if permissible parameters are exceeded, the carrier must obtain a special permit and pay a fee for passage depending on the weight and route of the transport.
On 7 November, the drivers themselves showed the inspectorate employees copies of weighing certificates from the border checkpoint, in order to proceed further without undergoing the weighing procedure. However, the transport control inspectorate doubted the authenticity of the documents provided.
On 8 November, the carrier provided copies of different certificates with different weight and dimension parameters. At the same time, all the certificates presented did not meet the requirements of the legislation and were not strict reporting forms. This raised certain suspicions among the transport control inspectors.
On the same day, the Zhambyl transport prosecutor issued a resolution to the inspectorate to cancel the restrictive measures and ensure the passage of the said vehicles without weighing.
However, contrary to the transport prosecutor's decision, on 13 November the transport control inspectorate in the Zhambyl region appealed the prosecutor's resolution through the General Prosecutor's Office and the Chief Transport Prosecutor's Office.
The inspectorate explained its decision by stating that previously M-NefteService LLP had obtained a special permit for transporting the same type of cargo along the same route with a fee payment of 15 million tenge. But this time, under similar transport conditions, the special permits were issued for only 7.9 million tenge.
As a result, employees of the transport control inspectorate of the Ministry of Transport carried out the weighing procedure for the heavy goods vehicles of M-NefteService LLP. It turned out that the total overload of the vehicles amounted to 85 tonnes. Consequently, the company was charged an additional 26.8 million tenge (of which more than 25 million was the fee for the overload) to the state budget.
It is reported that the weighing of the vehicles was carried out with the participation of the director of the carrier company, representatives of the Chief Transport Prosecutor's Office, a surveyor, and specialists from the National Centre for Expertise and Certification (NaTsEKS) JSC.
Following the transport control inspection, 22 administrative offence reports were drawn up against M-NefteService LLP, including for distorting weight parameter data in special permits and obstructing the activities of officials.
It is known that in Kazakhstan alone this year, 185 instances of heavy vehicles exceeding the weight parameters specified in their special permits were identified. Over 151 million tenge in additional fees and fines were collected.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport reports its intention to strengthen transport control over compliance with weight regulations by large vehicles and urges road carriers to strictly adhere to the requirements of transport legislation.