In Aktobe, a former chief accountant at two schools inflated her own salary and received money through employees, whom she asked to return the excess amounts to her.
According to the Telegram channel «Halyqstan», Maira T. worked as the chief accountant at School No.5 since 2022, and from 2023 simultaneously held the same position at School No.57. According to the investigation, she systematically inflated her own salary and also overpaid a number of employees at School No.5, with whom she arranged for the «extra» sums to be returned to her personally.
Among those involved were three teachers, including a PE teacher, as well as a fitter and an electrician. In total, they handed over more than 21 million tenge to the accountant. It is alleged she convinced her colleagues that the money was needed for school needs and asked them not to tell anyone. One of the teachers tried to object, pointing out the illegality of the scheme, but received a reply from the accountant that she would take full responsibility.
The violations came to light last year. The Department of Economic Investigations (DEI) conducted an audit, which established the sum of unjustified payments at 41.5 million tenge. At the time of the court hearing, the defendant had managed to repay around 19 million tenge.
In court, Maira T. partially admitted guilt. According to her, she resorted to the fraud due to financial difficulties and the need for funds for her father's operation. She also expressed doubt about the accuracy of the calculations, claiming that some of the stated payments were legitimate accruals: bonuses, financial assistance, etc.
Despite this, Court No.2 of Aktobe classified her actions as embezzlement or misappropriation of entrusted property. The sentence — 7 years in prison. In addition, the woman is obliged to compensate the remaining 22 million tenge.
To recall, in May of this year, the inter-district criminal court of Shymkent delivered a verdict on the former director of Secondary School No.133, Asel Baidossova, and the chief accountant of the same institution, Ulan Dadabekov. They were found guilty of embezzling budget funds totalling over 70 million tenge and accepting a bribe.
That same month, the prosecutor's office of the Zhambyl region uncovered the embezzlement of 25.5 million tenge intended for training specialists in technical and vocational education.
In June, a verdict was handed down in Shymkent in a case of a corruption crime in the education sector. The former chief accountant of Secondary School No.43, Aidan Mekemtas, was found guilty of embezzlement and misappropriation of entrusted funds using her official position.
The problem of embezzlement in the education system has long taken on a systemic nature. In almost every other high-profile case, the scheme is the same: an accountant or head of an institution inflates payments, arranges fictitious accruals, and awards bonuses to 'people' who later return the money in cash. Such cases are recorded across the country.
Perhaps, to prevent such cases, it would be worth strengthening internal audit in educational institutions and introducing stricter control over salary calculations.