A sentence has been passed in Astana in a case concerning fraud and money laundering committed by a group of individuals.
According to the press service of the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM), in 2023 the suspect, acting under a power of attorney on behalf of her son, took out two loans totalling 115 million tenge from Bank CenterCredit JSC, taking advantage of a state concessional lending programme subsidised by the Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund.
To do this, she submitted fake documents to the bank, including knowingly false reports on the valuation of the property put up as collateral. The scheme involved affiliated persons who registered property assets in their own names at inflated values.
Later, in December 2023, the suspects arranged another loan for 155 million tenge in the name of a woman who was in a serious state of health.
According to the investigation, the fraudsters used her digital signature and prepared fake contracts and invoices confirming a fictitious supply of bakery equipment from controlled individual entrepreneurs. In reality, the equipment was not purchased, and the money was cashed out. After the woman's death, the accomplices continued to backdate forged documents.
A bank employee was also implicated in the case, having received 500 thousand tenge for facilitating the processing of the applications. The total damage amounted to 155 million tenge.
The court found the participants in the scheme guilty and sentenced them to 5 years' imprisonment. Property acquired with criminal proceeds was confiscated to the state: a holiday resort, a land plot of 2,000 sq. m, and a non-residential premises in Astana.