The Chairman of the Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) Alikhan Smailov reported that the department's employees identified inefficient use of funds and violations totalling 73.5 billion tenge at Nazarbayev University.
According to media reports, he noted that the current legislation does not require Nazarbayev University to provide financial statements.
"Some funds are used inefficiently, or there are financial violations. As a result of the audit, we identified inefficient planning and use of funds at the university totalling 73 billion tenge, and financial violations amounting to 0.5 billion tenge were also found at this university," said Smailov.
According to the head of the department, the main drawback is that Nazarbayev University continues to depend on budget funding, although the strategic document on its development stated that the university should move away from budget injections through other sources of funding.
"At the same time, despite its special status and unprecedented support measures for this university, including tax preferences provided, and so on, we see that 97% of the university's funding continues to come from the republican budget," the statement said.
Smailov also noted that the university's list of strategic partners includes a company that supplies goods and services to the university through a single-source procurement method under public procurement.
"Another shortcoming we see is insufficient commercialisation, or virtually a lack of commercialisation of scientific research at the university. Although considerable funds are allocated to scientific research, we do not see their practical implementation or commercialisation. On all these matters, we have drawn up a conclusion. I spoke with the new president of the university, we communicated these facts, and we also sent our conclusion to the university, as well as to the government, so that these recommendations are taken into account in the development of this university," said the head of the SAC.
In conclusion, Alikhan Smailov emphasised that the government must now decide what changes need to be made to the legislation and when.
Earlier, the SAC presented the results of an audit of the agricultural sector. The head of the department, Alikhan Smailov, noted systemic problems that reduce the effectiveness of state support, despite significant budget subsidies.
Later, it became known that the department's employees are auditing Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund JSC and Baiterek National Managing Holding JSC.