A statement from employees of a poultry farm in the Kostanay region addressed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is circulating online. The staff of Poultry-Agro LLP claim that the enterprise has faced regular investigative actions since 2022, destabilising the production process. According to them, this creates an atmosphere of tension and could lead to the dismissal of 225 employees.
According to Inbusiness.kz, this concerns criminal cases opened based on statements from the former owner of the enterprise, Heinrich Bogdevich. As the staff claims, the cases were dropped three times due to lack of corpus delicti, but were subsequently reopened.
"We, the workforce of the poultry farm, which is an investment project, appeal to you with a request to protect the rights of 225 employees of the enterprise and their families. Today, our enterprise has been drawn into the orbit of a protracted criminal prosecution," the statement reads.
The workers emphasise that the cases are based on statements from the former owner, which have been repeatedly refuted.
"As part of these criminal cases, both management and ordinary employees of the enterprise are regularly interrogated. We are seriously concerned that if this pressure does not stop, the enterprise could be shut down and we will lose our jobs, and with them the opportunity to provide for our families," the employees assert.
It has become known that in 2020, Poultry-Agro LLP acquired the assets of the bankrupt Komsomolskaya Poultry Farm JSC, which had been idle since 2012 and was previously on the balance sheet of KazAgroFinance JSC. It is noted that the project was launched in 2009 with state funding of 3 billion tenge, however, the previous owner did not implement the project, was held accountable for the misuse of the loan, and was amnestied in 2013.
In 2017, the enterprise was declared bankrupt. After unsuccessful attempts to sell the assets at auction, KazAgroFinance took them onto its balance sheet. The outstanding balance on previous obligations as of 2024 amounts to approximately 700 million tenge.
In 2020, Poultry-Agro LLP invested funds in restoring the facility. According to preliminary data, the investment volume amounted to 5.8 billion tenge, of which 2.4 billion tenge is debt accumulated by the previous owner, which the current investor continues to repay.
"Since the launch of the poultry farm, nearly a billion tenge in taxes have been paid to the budget, 1.7 billion tenge in wages have been paid, and 225 stable jobs have been created with an average salary of 306,000 tenge," the statement says.
According to the staff, the pressure intensified in February 2022. The workers believe that behind the complaints are individuals affiliated with the former owner, who allegedly use connections "in high-ranking circles" to initiate inspections.
"One gets the impression of targeted pressure, which not only goes against the interests of the poultry farm and its staff, but also contradicts your instructions to support domestic business, import substitution, and the development of the agro-industrial sector," the workers say in their appeal to the President.
The founder of Poultry-Agro LLP, Kairat Maishev, stated that all criminal cases opened based on complaints from the former owner were dismissed due to lack of corpus delicti, but the enterprise continues to face new complaints and investigative actions.
In turn, the former owner of the investment project, Heinrich Bogdevich, distributed a statement on social media in which he claims the business was allegedly "taken away" from him on orders from above.
"My investment project was taken away from me. Cases were opened, the process was going quickly at first, and then – bang, it stopped. Because they are being protected from above. I know who it is. But I won't reveal the name for now. Today, criminal cases against Maishev, against the appraisers, and so on, have been resumed. And if this person interferes again, then I think I will reveal his name and position," Bogdevich stated.