The Ministry of Justice recovered 5.9 billion tenge, which had been paid as an advance to a Turkish contractor.
According to Informburo.kz, in October 2021 the Road Committee signed a contract with the Turkish company «F&A Road Construction» for the reconstruction of the Kurty – Burylbaytal highway.
The committee transferred an advance of 5.9 billion tenge for the preparation of materials and other matters. However, the Turkish contractor did not start work, and in May 2022 the contract was terminated unilaterally.
The department tried to recover the advance without court proceedings, but this did not yield results.
The Ministry of Justice then initiated arbitration proceedings at the International Chamber of Commerce.
Ultimately, the parties reached a settlement agreement, under which the contractor undertook to return the money and cover legal costs of $280,000 (approximately 134.2 million tenge) and an $85,000 (approximately 40.7 million tenge) arbitration fee.
“Thus, thanks to the comprehensive work of the involved state bodies under the coordination of the Ministry of Justice, it was possible to protect the rights of the state, compensate for the costs of engaging a legal consultant, and avoid consideration of the matter in a costly arbitration process,” the department concluded.