The embezzlement of entrusted property was discovered after an audit of the airline conducted by specialists from Ernst & Young LLP.
According to the Telegram channel "Kozachkov offside", the money was stolen after changes were made to the airline ticket booking information system.
"Having received the audit report, the management of Air Astana contacted law enforcement authorities - a statement was written by airline representative Yerbolat Sugirbayev. A pre-trial investigation has been registered under Part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code - theft on an especially large scale," the report states.
The damage from the criminal actions amounted to 1 billion 54 million 710 thousand tenge. The penalty for this carries a sentence of 7 to 12 years in prison.
"Usually in such cases, the criminal case is investigated against the officials of the enterprise. Therefore, there is a possibility that some of the top managers of the national airline will end up in the dock," journalists reported.
It will be recalled that in December of last year, the specialised inter-district court for administrative offences in Almaty found Air Astana guilty of abusing its monopoly position in the air transport market, which was expressed in the unjustified application of a fuel surcharge, and fined it more than 876 million tenge.