People are writing to our @fund_kz_bot from the Zhambyl region, allegedly a senior employee of JSC "Kazakhtelecom" has been detained there on suspicion of abuse of office. It concerns a member of the board of "Kazakhtelecom", the chief director for the corporate segment, Almat Karamanov.
Since June 2018, Karamanov was the director of the administrative general service centre of the "Service Factory" (a branch of JSC "Kazakhtelecom"), which is responsible for the company's non-core functions. In May 2019, he became the general director of the branch and held this position until May 2021.
It is reported that during this period, allegedly with the assistance of the former head of the property management department of the "Service Factory", M. O. Smetov, and a specialist from the same department, I. V. Kukharenko, Karamanov sold the 3-storey administrative building of "Kazakhtelecom" at a reduced price, thereby causing damage to the state in the amount of 468 million tenge.
There have been no official statements about the detention yet. According to a source, Karamanov and Smetov have been placed in a temporary detention facility in Taraz. They are charged with abuse of office (Part 4 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
This crime carries a punishment of restriction or deprivation of liberty for a term of up to 7 years, with confiscation of property and lifelong disqualification from holding certain positions.