The story of the multi-billion-tenge debt of RSE «Enbek-Oskemen» has taken a new turn following a series of appeals by the former director of the enterprise to state bodies. Documents obtained by the FBRK editorial office reveal not only the details of systemic violations in the work of the country's largest prison enterprise, but also show how the state apparatus responds to reports of potential abuses.
In May 2025, convicted of embezzling budget funds, Kairat Uralbekov, sent a major appeal to several key state bodies at once. The paradox of the situation lies in the fact that the former director is effectively demanding that the state conduct an inspection of the enterprise that he himself headed during the period when the debt, exceeding a billion tenge, was incurred.
Uralbekov claims that the main reason for the collapse of the RSE was the contradiction between the enterprise's statutory objectives and the requirements of the rehabilitation procedure. It is reported that, according to the charter, profits were meant to be directed towards maintaining the utility infrastructure of institutions under the Department of the Criminal Enforcement System (DCES) in the East Kazakhstan Region. However, a court decision on rehabilitation required the funds to be used for repaying accounts payable. In his appeal, the former director of the enterprise described in detail the mechanism for concluding fictitious contracts, where staff of the planning and economics department allegedly prepared knowingly false cost estimates for the manufacture of goods that were, in fact, not produced by convict labour.
Of particular concern is the situation regarding food supplies for prisoners described in the documents. It is noted that from January 2022 onwards, complaints were received from convicts about product quality and a significant reduction in deliveries of meat and sugar. The period of shortfalls from January to April 2022 was allegedly critical.
In the area of utilities, according to the source, equally serious problems emerged: tariffs did not cover actual costs, equipment wear and tear reached a critical level, and the debt to utility companies allegedly amounted to around 300 million tenge.
A systemic issue with accounting is also noteworthy. According to the source, the enterprise was constantly operating under frozen bank accounts, tax payment amounts changed several-fold, and in 2022 a shortage of inventory items worth around 100 million tenge and 10 vehicles was discovered, despite the fact that a comprehensive inventory of assets was never carried out.
The response from state bodies to these appeals also proved very interesting. Initial replies began arriving as early as late May 2025, but most departments limited themselves to formal rejections. The Department of State Revenues for the East Kazakhstan Region, for example, cited the non-compliance of the appeal with legislative requirements and returned it without consideration. The Department for Coordination of Employment and Social Programmes of the East Kazakhstan Region also refused to consider the appeal, stating that the issues raised fell outside their competence.
The only body that responded constructively was the Committee of the Criminal Enforcement System of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A response dated 2 June 2025 states that the appeal was considered within the bounds of its competence, and that competent state bodies, including the Prosecutor General's Office, the Department of Internal State Audit, and the Department of Economic Investigations, are conducting an inspection of the RSE's activities with the possible adoption of measures in accordance with the law.
According to the source, having received formal rejections from most departments, Uralbekov sent an additional appeal via the e-Otinish electronic services portal. On 30 May 2025, the document was forwarded to the Prosecutor General's Office, and on 4 June it was sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, signed by the head of a department at the Prosecutor General's Office. This appeal emphasises that the RSE effectively has no legal status, being in the stage of rehabilitation of an enterprise with a debt exceeding 2 billion tenge, and enters into contracts with the country's budgetary organisations solely through a single-source procurement method.
The final letter, sent to the Ministry of Finance on 5 June 2025, is particularly noteworthy. In it, Uralbekov explicitly states the formal nature of the responses received and demands specific information on the amount of the RSE's debt at the end of the second quarter of 2025, as well as on the measures being taken.
Analysis of the entire chain of appeals and responses points to possible systemic problems not only in the operation of the prison enterprise, but also in the response of the state apparatus to reports of potential violations. According to the source, most departments preferred to fob off with formal rejections on procedural grounds, shifting responsibility onto one another. Meanwhile, the scale of the problems raised – from a multi-billion-tenge debt to issues of food supply for prisoners – requires a systemic approach and inter-agency coordination.
Currently, the situation is at the stage of verification measures. We have learned that the Prosecutor General's Office has initiated an inspection of the RSE's activities. However, the question remains open as to whether this inspection will lead to systemic changes in the operation of prison enterprises or whether it will be limited to bringing individual officials to account.
The story of the RSE «Enbek-Oskemen» highlights a broader problem in the functioning of the country's penitentiary system, where issues of prisoner welfare, their labour activities, and the utility provision of correctional institutions are intertwined with commercial interests and budgetary constraints. It is quite possible that the multi-billion-tenge debt of the country's largest prison enterprise is merely the visible part of systemic problems.