In Almaty, employees of the Department of Economic Investigations (DEI) have uncovered a network of illegal microfinance organisations (MFOs). The total value of seized assets amounted to 42.6 billion tenge.
This was announced at a briefing at the RSC by the deputy head of the department, Sabyrgali Balgaliyev. According to him, an analysis of the criminogenic situation revealed that a number of companies, formally operating in the field of trade and car rental, were issuing microloans without a licence, using the activities of commission shops as a cover.
As Balgaliyev stated, contracts for the sale of goods were concluded with clients, which were used as collateral. Later, these goods were resold or leased back to the same clients, but with hidden interest rates.
"This year, the department registered a number of criminal cases against 14 legal entities and one individual. We have sent to court a case against six MFOs: 'Creditum', 'Sofi Finance' and other affiliated companies on charges of fraud, illegal entrepreneurship and money laundering," Balgaliyev reported.
According to him, the participants in the scheme profited from citizens who were forced to pay 3–5 times more than the amount of the loan they received, which had been disguised under guarantee agreements.
To compensate for the damage, the suspects' assets were seized to the value of 42.6 billion tenge.
"Citizens who filed applications have been fully compensated for their losses. Also, the principal debt of 1.6 billion tenge has been written off," he clarified.
At the same time, the Almaty prosecutor's office filed a lawsuit to protect the interests of more than 60,000 citizens from socially vulnerable categories who were borrowers of these MFOs.
Furthermore, the authorised bodies have ceased the activities of Aiken Tech LLP, which, according to the investigation, was conducting microfinance activities without a licence via the '7PAYda kz' website. The company issued microloans totalling approximately 10 billion tenge to more than 7,000 citizens.
The specialists also found that the management of Comfort Time LLP was processing fictitious pension contributions for citizens who were not actually employed.
It is noted that this allowed them to create false information about the borrowers' creditworthiness. As a result, 140 non-performing loans totalling more than 400 million tenge were obtained.
Balgaliyev added that, based on the results of pre-trial investigations, amendments to legislation have been initiated aimed at reducing lending risks, and it has also been proposed to introduce the institution of a microfinance ombudsman to resolve disputes over microloans.