The Almaty Regional Court has declared the transactions for three land plots located on the northern shore of the Kapshagai Reservoir invalid and ordered them to be returned to state ownership. According to the appellate ruling, the plots were within a water protection zone and, therefore, were not eligible for transfer into private ownership.
According to Vlast.kz, the prosecutor of Konayev city filed the lawsuit, stating that all three plots are part of the water fund lands and, in accordance with the law, can only be granted for temporary land use.
In February, the court of first instance refused to satisfy the claim, citing that the requirements for the width of water protection zones were established later than the ownership rights were formalised.
However, the appeal came to the opposite conclusion: at the time the land was transferred into private ownership, data already existed that it belonged to a water protection zone. This was confirmed, among other things, by the opinion of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin Inspectorate.
The court established that from 2004 to 2016, all plots were successively transferred between companies affiliated with Askar Kulibayev, including his son Beksultan Kulibayev and daughter-in-law Nailya Kulibayeva.
One of the plots was allocated in 2004 by the former akim of Kapshagai, Sergei Zelensky. According to the court, the land was provided without holding a tender, which constitutes a violation of land legislation.
During an on-site court hearing, the court established that one of the plots contains a property complex, including a house, bathhouse, garage, heating unit, and outbuildings. The other two plots adjoin the main one, but have no structures on them, though they do have green spaces.
The court paid particular attention to the following:
- for one of the plots, the basin inspectorate indicated that it falls within the water protection strip and can only be used on terms of temporary land use;
- for another plot, the approval only permitted construction outside the protection zone;
- for the third plot, there was no approval at all.
The court ruled that the prosecutor had valid grounds to demand the invalidation of all purchase and sale agreements for these land plots, as the akim of Kapshagai city had granted them into private ownership contrary to the opinion of the basin inspectorate.