The specialised inter-district criminal court of Astana has sentenced the deputy director of a Limited Liability Partnership. He was found guilty of fraud and incitement to give a bribe.
"In July 2023, the defendant A., with the intent of committing fraud and inciting the giving of a bribe to an official, told K. that he had connections and the ability to resolve the issue of securing a subsoil use contract through an official with whom he allegedly needed to discuss the matter", the press service of the department reported.
The following day, the accused told the victim that he had visited an official who had agreed to help obtain the said contract, and that for this purpose, $500,000 allegedly needed to be handed over as a bribe.
"At the same time, the defendant, creating the appearance of credibility in his words, indicated the need for K. to provide two Limited Liability Partnerships to participate in the tender, following which a contract would be drawn up for one of them", the statement said.
Furthermore, the defendant demanded a 10% share of the Limited Liability Partnership with which the contract would be concluded, and $100,000 for acting as an intermediary in resolving the matter. The victim later handed over $250,000 to him.
In court, the accused did not admit his guilt, insisting that he had received the money as a loan.
Ultimately, he was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment, with a lifelong ban from holding positions in the civil service and quasi-public sector entities.
It may be recalled that previously, a resident of Astana who was convicted had his sentence commuted from a fine to 10 years' imprisonment for incitement to give bribes to officials.
In August, former deputy head of the Department of Economic Investigations for the Kyzylorda region, Almas Kasymbayev, was convicted of fraud and inciting the director of an Almaty enterprise to give a bribe of 10 million tenge to police officers in exchange for dropping a criminal case.