The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) has suppressed the illegal activities of the commodity exchange «Modern Trading Solutions», whose management sold coal from the Shubarkol deposit for an additional fee.
According to the agency's press service, the management of the commodity exchange registered 23 brokerage companies in the names of relatives and trusted persons.
"Only individuals who provided regular cash payments were allowed to participate in the coal purchase auctions," the statement said.
Entrepreneurs who refused to pay were not allowed to participate in the auctions: accreditation deadlines were delayed, deals were not signed, access was restricted, and results were overturned.
It is noted that the group's annual criminal income exceeded 2 billion tenge. The proceeds were cashed out through companies under its control.
Three leaders of the commodity exchange were placed in custody as a preventive measure. One of the suspects has been put on the wanted list.
It is worth recalling that in August last year, the FMA conducted an analysis of the activities of three major coal mining enterprises in the country, where it identified risks of unproductive intermediation and unjustified increases in the selling price of coal. In some cases, the price was increased several times.