In June, a court of first instance sentenced the director of the Kostanay regional representative office of JSC "Prodkorporatsiya" Miras Turezhanov and the deputy director of LLP "Olzha-Agro" Almaz Kulmyrzayev to prison terms for corruption.
According to the publication "Nasha Gazeta", the court found that Turezhanov demanded 350 thousand tenge from Kulmyrzayev for assistance in obtaining a commodity loan for subsidised seeds. At the same time, the corporation director provided false information about the amount of sown areas for LLP "Olzha-Altyn Invest" and LLP "Olzha-Ryazhskoye". As a result, the Partnerships received 146 tonnes and 11,000 tonnes of subsidised seeds respectively.
The court sentenced Kulmyrzayev to 3 years' imprisonment, and Turezhanov to 3 years and 6 months. Both were banned from holding positions in the civil service for life.
However, recently, when considering the appeals of the convicted men, the judicial panel for criminal cases of the Kostanay Regional Court decided to amend the verdict of the court of first instance.
"Taking into account the personality of the convicted Kulmyrzayev, his admission of guilt for the crime, and his financial situation, he has been sentenced to a fine of twenty-seven times the bribe amount, totalling 9,450,000 tenge", the verdict states.
It is noted that at the first hearing, the judge of first instance did not impose a fine on the defendants because they were under investigation and did not have a stable income.
The regional court panel also took into account that Kulmyrzayev spent 41 days in custody and deducted one day of imprisonment for 4 MCI - totalling 565,800 tenge. At the same time, the panel excluded the additional punishment – the lifelong deprivation of the right to hold positions in the civil service.
In all other respects, the verdict was left unchanged – Turezhanov will continue to serve his sentence.
Earlier, the inter-district criminal court of Astana issued a ruling regarding the director of the financial department of JSC "Prodkorporatsiya" N.G. Zhumadilov and the chief specialist G.Zh. Abenov.
They were suspected of receiving a bribe from an entrepreneur for services rendered in collecting documents, as well as for assistance in signing a contract for the provision of a commodity loan (grain).
As a result, the court sentenced the accused to a fine totalling 48 million tenge, with lifelong deprivation of the right to hold positions in the civil service in quasi-public sector entities.