The Astana Police Department has refused to open a criminal case against the Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov following a complaint from agricultural expert Kirill Pavlov.
The expert accused the head of the ministry of spreading false information about Kazakhstan being 100% self-sufficient in dairy products. Law enforcement officers found no evidence of a crime in the minister's actions, despite the statistical data provided and admissions from representatives of the ministry itself.
Earlier, Pavlov provided the police with data from official statistics showing imports of milk and dairy products worth $410.7 million in 2024. According to this information, Kazakhstan imported 183 thousand tonnes of dairy products. The import share of the cheese and cottage cheese market is 48%, and for butter and dairy-fat products it is 15%.
A video recording of a discussion gave particular weight to the case materials, in which the Director of Agricultural Food Markets and Agricultural Processing at the Ministry of Agriculture, Shaimerden Akhmetov, officially acknowledged that the country does not provide for itself with dairy products. The expert called this direct evidence of the discrepancy between the minister's public statements and the real situation on the market.
However, the Astana Police Department decided not to open a criminal case. The official response states:
"Following the review, a decision was made to refuse registration of the material and to store it in the administrative file, due to the absence of the elements of a criminal offence."
This stance raises questions, given the statistical figures provided by the expert and the admissions from representatives of the ministry itself. The materials effectively point to a clear contradiction between the head of the ministry's public statements about full self-sufficiency and the actual volumes of imports.
Commenting on the law enforcement's decision, Kirill Pavlov highlighted the difference in treatment of government officials and citizens. It should be recalled that the expert himself is being prosecuted under an article providing for arrest, for quoting official orders.
"The police of the Yesil district did not find any crime in the outright lie of the Minister of Agriculture, Saparov, about 100% provision of dairy products. Even though his own subordinate openly states that the country does not have enough milk. Yet, for quoting official orders, the same police department booked me under an article providing for arrest," the expert wrote.
Pavlov summarised:
"Everything you need to know about equality before the law in Kazakhstan: a minister can spout any nonsense with a straight face, and nothing will happen to him for it. But journalists are not even allowed to quote him."
The case raises two important issues. The first is the reliability of official information in the agricultural sector. The admission by the Director of Agricultural Food Markets at the Ministry of Agriculture about insufficient milk production directly contradicts the leadership's statements about the country's full self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, the ministry continues to publicly claim 100% self-sufficiency, which calls into question the validity of this position.
The second is the selectivity of law enforcement. The refusal to open a case, despite documentary evidence and admissions from representatives of the ministry itself, raises questions about equality before the law and the ability of citizens to point out discrepancies in official reports without risking negative consequences.
Pavlov's case brings the discussion about transparency in government and the responsibility of officials for the accuracy of the data they provide to the fore.