The sentencing of 17 members of an organised criminal group in the Almaty Region has once again drawn attention to the problem of illegal vehicle registration.
According to the investigation, the group arranged for the registration of 851 vehicles, and the amount of unpaid registration and recycling fees exceeded 6.6 billion tenge.
But similar stories have emerged in Kazakhstan before.
WHERE THE STORY BEGAN
Back in 2021, in the North Kazakhstan Region, the Department of Economic Investigations discovered and seized 54 cars and 6 trucks, as well as documents and state registration plates.
At the time, schemes for the illegal import of vehicles and their subsequent registration in Kazakhstan were being examined.
Later, similar problems with vehicles and identification data began to appear in other regions. Particular attention was drawn to cars with tampered VIN numbers and the difficulties involved in registering them.
WHAT THE FBRC INVESTIGATION IN URALSK REVEALED
In the author investigation by FBRC founder Kirill Pavlov on the YouTube channel "Kazakh Chuvash" , the journalist personally showed vehicles whose data, in his words, raised questions.
In some cases, the actual characteristics of the cars did not match the information in the documents. The investigation highlighted that problems could arise not only during the import of a vehicle, but also at later stages - during the processing of documents and registration.
THE FBRC ALSO TESTED VULNERABILITIES IN REGISTRATION PROCEDURES
In a separate video, Kirill Pavlov conducted an experiment to demonstrate how vulnerable certain vehicle-related procedures could be.
In particular, he tested the possibility of registering a car in another person's name using the details of Interior Minister Yerzhan Sadenov.
Another experiment involved the issue of obtaining a driving licence and a situation in which the owner might not immediately find out about actions taken in relation to their vehicle.
SIMILAR CASES HAVE APPEARED IN DIFFERENT REGIONS
Stories involving illegal imports, forged documents, altered identification data and vehicle registration have emerged over the years in Astana, Almaty, Aktobe and other regions of Kazakhstan.
For example, the FBRC has previously reported on investigations into the illegal registration of trucks in Kostanay and the Pavlodar Region, as well as schemes involving Specialised Vehicle Registration Centre staff in Almaty.
The mechanisms differed from case to case. However, the common problem remained similar: a vehicle that did not meet the established requirements or had issues with its documents and identification data was being legitimised through registration procedures.
THE NEW SENTENCE - ANOTHER EPISODE
Today's case in the Almaty Region shows that the problem of illegal vehicle registration was not limited to one region or one scheme.
The court convicted 17 members of the organised criminal group for the illegal registration of more than 800 vehicles. Depending on their role and level of involvement, they were sentenced to between 2 and 11 years in prison.
The sentence has not yet entered into force.
