A court in the Almaty Region found three tax officials guilty in a bribery case. They have been handed multi-million tenge fines and banned from working in the civil service for life.
HOW THE CASE UNFOLDED
According to the Telegram channel HALYQSTAN», the investigation was triggered by an audit of an individual entrepreneur (IE). According to the court's version, the audit revealed discrepancies in income of almost 22 million tenge.
As the court established, the IE's representative was first informed of a potential fine of 20 million tenge, and was then offered to settle the matter for 5 million tenge. Since the entrepreneur could not pay this amount, the agreement changed, according to the court: two iPhone 17 Pro 512 Gb devices were handed over as a bribe.
WHAT THE COURT ESTABLISHED
According to case materials, the phones were purchased in Almaty for 1.5 million tenge and handed over in the office of an employee of the State Revenue Department (SRD). Subsequently, as the court established, one smartphone ended up with the department head, and the second with his subordinate.
All three defendants pleaded guilty.
WHAT SENTENCE WAS PASSED
The court fined the SRD head 52 million tenge, his subordinate 52.5 million tenge, and the intermediary 15 million tenge.
In addition, all three were stripped of the right to hold positions in the civil service for life. The smartphones handed over as bribes were confiscated for the benefit of the state.
