A former acting head of the department of the state revenue department for the West Kazakhstan region (WKR) was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a bribe of 100 million tenge. The money was intended for the unimpeded passage of 1003 lorries from Russia into Kazakhstan.
HOW THE PASSAGE OF LORRIES WAS ORGANISED
According to the press service of the Astana courts, the unlawful arrangement was in effect from September to October 2025. The former acting head of the department agreed with a Russian citizen on the unimpeded passage of freight transport through checkpoints in the WKR.
For general patronage and assistance in the movement of lorries, the official was given 100 million tenge. In total, the arrangement concerned 1003 lorries.
HOW THE OFFICIAL PASSED ON DATA
In addition to assisting with border crossing, the former civil servant passed on to the entrepreneur information about which legal entities and sole traders had been entered into the risk management system. He also gave recommendations on bypassing the restrictions that arose.
An intermediary took part in the handover of the funds. For his services he received 24.8 million tenge.
WHAT PUNISHMENT THE COURT IMPOSED
On 4 November 2026, the Specialised Inter-District Criminal Court of Astana found both defendants guilty.
The former head of the department was found guilty under part 4 of article 366 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (“Receiving a bribe”) and sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property and a lifetime ban on holding certain positions.
The intermediary was found guilty under part 1 of article 368 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (“Mediation in bribery”). He was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, confiscation of property and a lifetime ban on holding certain positions.
The court also ordered the confiscation to the state of money found to have been obtained by criminal means, and the recovery from the convicted persons of illegally obtained funds.
In imposing the punishment, the court took into account the presence of minor children for both defendants as a mitigating circumstance. Breach of the oath taken was recognised as an aggravating circumstance for the former official.
The sentence has not entered into legal force.
CONTEXT
Recall that the National Security Committee (NSC) announced the detention of one of the heads of the WKR SRD department and a resident of the capital in January 2026. At that time, the agency estimated the damage to the state at 1.9 billion tenge. FBRK also previously wrote about how the NSC shut down a channel for the illegal export of oil products worth 45 billion tenge.
