A scandal is brewing around the activities of the state-owned company "Zhasyl Damu," which was created to address environmental issues and waste processing. Instead of building waste processing plants and modernising the waste management system, the operator is investing billions of tenge in unrelated projects, including the purchase of shares in the telecommunications company Kcell.
According to Ulysmedia.kz, by the end of June, "Zhasyl Damu" had increased its stake in Kcell to 5.53% (more than 11 million shares), although at the end of last year it held only 2.73%.
The company explained that these are temporary investments through reverse REPO operations, and the government called this approach “a prudent placement of available funds.”
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For reference: a REPO deal is an agreement whereby the owner of an asset transfers it to another party with an agreement to buy it back within a limited period.
However, deputies and experts believe that such investments contradict the very purpose of the recycling operator's existence, as the funds were collected from citizens for the development of waste processing.
Economist Meruert Makhmutova stated that the situation repeats the old model of quasi-state structures, where instead of fulfilling their core tasks, they earn money on deposits and award themselves bonuses for “effective management.”
According to Mazhilis deputy Yekaterina Smyshlyaeva, the accounts of "Zhasyl Damu" hold over 400 billion tenge, half of which was transferred from its predecessor – Operator ROP LLP.
Meanwhile, the company's annual administrative expenses amount to around 4 billion tenge, and over two years, only 3.5 billion tenge was spent on actual waste processing. A significant portion of the funds goes to projects unrelated to ecology: the purchase of buses, agricultural machinery, and early fire detection systems.
At the same time, the environmental situation remains critical. The country generates approximately 5 million tonnes of household waste annually, but only 26% is processed. Out of a billion tonnes of industrial waste, only 11% is subject to processing. Of the 94 planned landfills, only six have been funded, and the waste processing plants have never become operational.
Deputies are asking: where does a state organisation get available funds, and why are they not being spent for their intended purpose?
Parliamentarian Aituar Koshkombayev reported that a review of quasi-state structures is expected early next year, and "Zhasyl Damu" will be among the first entities to be inspected.
It will be recalled that it became known in July of this year that the new shareholder of Kcell is JSC "Zhasyl Damu". It was reported that the market price of one Kcell share from 1 April to 30 June ranged from 3,245 to 3,400 tenge. Thus, the company could have acquired 11.06 million shares for a total of 37.6 billion tenge.