A resident of the East Kazakhstan region, Nurlan Aubakirov, wrote an appeal addressed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in which he reported violations in the financing of the construction of singing fountains in Semey and Ust-Kamenogorsk during the period when Daniyal Akhmetov was the regional governor.
According to Ratel.kz, in his appeal Aubakirov claims that in June 2015, 403 million tenge was illegally allocated from the budget of the East Kazakhstan region. These funds were directed to two projects: 'Reconstruction of the central square with the installation of a fountain in the city of Semey' (160 million tenge) and 'Reconstruction of the fountain part of Republic Square in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk' (243 million tenge).
It is reported that these projects were not initially included in the draft regional budget, and therefore, by law, should not have been funded.
'According to paragraph 7 of Article 153 of the Budget Code, the basis for including a project in the budget is the availability of a positive economic conclusion on the investment proposal for the project. However, no investment proposals for these projects were ever received from the administrator of budget programmes, no positive economic conclusions were issued, consequently, the projects were not included in the budget and were not subject to implementation', the report states.
Aubakirov claims that documents confirming the legality of the budget allocation appeared later: for Ust-Kamenogorsk — on 21 July 2015, for Semey — on 26 October 2015. This means that money began to be spent before the design and estimate documentation was developed.
Furthermore, according to him, the tender to determine the contractor for the project in Ust-Kamenogorsk was only held on 24 August 2015, three months after the start of construction. In Semey, construction began in July 2015, but the design and estimate documentation was only developed on 26 October, and the tender took place on 8 December 2015 — after the actual completion of the work.
Another important point is the change in the cost of the projects. In Semey, the initial amount was 160 million tenge, but during the course of the work it rose to 219.6 million tenge. In Ust-Kamenogorsk, the initial amount of 240 million tenge increased to 323.9 million tenge.
As Aubakirov notes, such adjustments are impossible without a corresponding decision from the regional budget commission and compliance with established procedures.