A subsidiary of the Akimat of Astana, City Transportation Systems (CTS), formerly known as Astana LRT, has put property worth around 20 billion tenge up for sale. Among the assets are dozens of land plots, business premises, parking spaces, and even a factory in St. Petersburg.
According to ORDA, these assets are intended to partially offset the frozen funds held in the account of the liquidated Astana Bank, which were allocated for the construction of the light rail transit (LRT) line in the capital. The project remains unfinished.
On the official website of the state property auction, dozens of lots representing former CTS assets have been listed:
- 21 land plots in Astana — 3.7 billion tenge;
- production base in Almaty — 145 million tenge;
- restaurant premises in Almaty — 873 million tenge;
- another business premises in Almaty — 221 million tenge;
- unfinished residential complex in Astana — 3.7 billion tenge;
- 11 parking spaces in Astana — 15.7 million tenge;
- land plot in Aktau — 956 million tenge;
- concrete plant of JSC Finngrad in St. Petersburg — 9.8 billion tenge.
The total value of the assets put up for sale amounts to approximately 20 billion tenge. According to available information, some of the properties have been on the market for over a year, but so far without success.
It is noted that a significant portion of this property came to CTS as part of the liquidation process of Astana Bank. Until 2019, CTS (then still Astana LRT) held $257.6 million in this bank, funds allocated for the construction of the LRT. Following the financial institution's bankruptcy, access to these funds was lost.
In 2018, former President Nursultan Nazarbayev stated at a meeting on the National Bank's performance that the shareholders of several banks, including Astana Bank, had "managed irresponsibly." This led to debts and an inability to meet obligations to depositors.
According to him, it was necessary to "deal severely with dishonest bankers." Shortly after this statement, the situation surrounding the bank began to deteriorate rapidly.
Later, Astana Bank's licence was suspended and then ultimately revoked. In September of the same year, the bank was declared insolvent, and in 2019, a court decision initiated its liquidation.
It is reported that the state was unable to recover the lost funds in monetary form. Instead, property from the liquidated bank — mainly in the form of real estate and business shares — was transferred to the ownership of state structures, including CTS.
For context, in 2021, seven individuals were convicted in connection with the embezzlement case during the implementation of the Astana LRT project. Former deputy mayor of the capital Kanat Sultanbekov and former head of the company Astana LRT Talgar Ardan were placed on the international wanted list.