The Atbasar District Court of Akmola Region found the akim of Sergeevsky rural district, Kairat Kozhakhmetov, guilty of negligence which, according to the investigation, led to the flooding of 19 houses in the village of Samarka during the spring flood of 2024.
According to data from the Telegram channel "Halyqstan", the official ignored instructions to switch the local dam to transit mode. The case materials state that timely measures could have prevented the destruction of the hydraulic structure.
As a result, the court sentenced the official to 1 year and 6 months of restriction of liberty with the imposition of probation supervision. He was also stripped of the right to hold positions in the civil service. The sentence has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed.
For his part, the convicted akim denies his guilt. In a video message published on his social media page, he stated that he had become the "fall guy" in the situation.
"The district court decided that I am to blame, that I must bear responsibility for the natural disaster. I do not shirk responsibility for my work, but the accusations brought against me are unfair. This was not an investigation, but a search for a scapegoat. Instead of looking for the real causes to improve the system, they made one person the guilty party," said the former akim.
It will be recalled that in February 2025, the Tasqyn flood forecasting system was commissioned. The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation promised that the first forecasts would appear at the beginning of March, but, as practice has shown, even these vague predictions did not help prevent the numerous floods that occurred in various regions of the country.
Reality refuted the department's optimistic reports: serious flooding was observed in several regions at once (North Kazakhstan, Aktobe, Kostanay, Akmola, East Kazakhstan regions). Roads were washed away, settlements were flooded, and transport links were disrupted.
Entire villages found themselves isolated, while the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, spoke about the "effectiveness" of Tasqyn. Meanwhile, the real cost of the forecasting system and the specific results of its work remain unknown.