Instead of an official response following the results of the state information order competition, the editorial team of FBRK received their own application back. Following a preliminary review of the complaint from FBRK founder Kirill Pavlov the guilty official was punished, but the results of the competition were not reconsidered.
WHAT HAPPENED
The editorial team of FBRK participated in the competition for the state information order in the Pavlodar region. Our application was accepted for participation, the competition took place, and the winner was determined. But instead of an official notification of the results, Pavlov received an envelope in the post, and inside it were our own documents.
THE COMPLAINT
Pavlov regarded what had happened as a violation and filed a complaint through the prosecutor's office of the Pavlodar region. The apparatus of the akim of the Pavlodar region conducted an investigation and confirmed: the documents were returned after the results of the competition had been announced and published, which contradicts the rules of document circulation.
At the same time, a systemic gap was also revealed - the rules of the competition itself do not describe at all what to do with the participants' paperwork after its completion.
WHO WAS PUNISHED
By order of 20 May 2026 the head of the Department of Information Policy and Media Monitoring of the Department of Information and Public Development of the Pavlodar region received a disciplinary penalty in the form of a reprimand for improper storage of competition participants' documents. This decision is preliminary in nature.
Pavlov believes that responsibility should not be limited to an ordinary employee. In his opinion, the question should also be directed to the supervising senior management.
WHY THE COMPETITION RESULTS WERE NOT CANCELLED
The apparatus of the akim explained that the winner was chosen by a regional commission collectively, and the return of documents did not affect this process. According to the department, there are no grounds for cancelling the results.
WHAT THIS MEANS
The violation has been acknowledged, one official has been punished, but this is a preliminary outcome, and the matter is not yet resolved.
At the same time, the question of the systemic gap remains open: the competition rules still do not determine the fate of participants' documents after the results have been announced. It was this gap that made the whole situation possible.