Financial irregularities have been identified at the Nursultan Nazarbayev international airport in the capital, totalling 429.3 million tenge, with 395.4 million tenge subject to reimbursement.
According to the Telegram channel «Nege.Aqsha», budget funds were allocated for the purchase of three units for the air hub – a telescopic passenger boarding bridge for the VIP-North terminal, a compact sweeper/blower machine, and equipment for emergency rescue and evacuation operations. However, it emerged that the airport only acquired two of them.
It also came to light that the airport purchased equipment at a cost higher than the planned amount. Initially, the sweeper/blower machines were planned to be acquired for 936 million tenge, but in the end, 1.3 billion tenge was spent.
«The unjustified use of budget funds amounts to 395.4 million tenge (1.3 billion tenge – 936 million tenge). The main objective of the project implementation is the acquisition of three components for a total sum of 2.8 billion tenge. However, the Company only purchased two components using the allocated budget funds (1 telescopic passenger boarding bridge for the VIP-North terminal and 4 compact sweeper/blower machines). In this regard, the project objective has not been achieved, and the identified sums of financial irregularities are subject to reimbursement to the budget», the court stated.
For their part, representatives of the airport explained this by stating that the financial and economic feasibility study for the project was developed back in 2020. According to them, due to inflation, the project cost increased by 15.5%, that is, by 417.1 million tenge.
«In fact, the project was implemented for a total sum of 3.3 billion tenge – using 2.8 billion tenge of budget funds and 448.3 million tenge of the Company's own funds, thereby reducing the burden on the republican budget», representatives of the air hub stated.
Despite this, the court ordered the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office and the Anti-Corruption Department for Astana to take measures in connection with the violations at the airport.
Recall that previously, the capital's «Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport» JSC published a lot on the public procurement portal for the purchase of one fire engine for 738,105,838 tenge.
It was also reported that the Pavlodar airport attempted to buy vehicles at an inflated price. The organisation planned to purchase two trucks for 64.4 million tenge, a sewage disposal truck for 46.4 million tenge, and a dump truck for 31 million tenge.
However, the cost of similar specialised equipment turned out to be much lower than stated. For example, the market price for sewage disposal trucks averages 21 million tenge, and the approximate price of a dump truck is 25 million tenge. After the intervention of Anti-Corruption volunteers, the procurement was cancelled.