The AFM Department for Astana has initiated a pre-trial investigation into officials of the Centre for Forensic Examinations and a local entrepreneur. They are suspected of embezzling more than 2 billion tenge.
According to the department's press service, as part of the fight against drug addiction and the drug business for 2023–2025, 10.3 billion tenge was allocated from the republican budget.
It has been reported that employees of the Centre for Forensic Examinations, acting in collusion with suppliers, inflated the cost of equipment threefold by providing fictitious commercial proposals.
Furthermore, prior to the announcement of the public procurement tender, the technical specifications only listed equipment that could be supplied by affiliated companies.
For the purpose of confiscation, law enforcement officers have seized property belonging to the suspects with a total value of over 148 million tenge: 2 land plots in Almaty, an apartment in Astana, and cars – a BMW X6 and an RAV 4.
Also seized were funds held by the Limited Liability Partnership in bank accounts amounting to 1.6 billion tenge, $367 thousand, and €366 thousand.
The court has imposed a preventive measure on the director of the Centre for Forensic Examinations, the head of the public procurement department, and the head of the Limited Liability Partnership in the form of custody for a period of 2 months.