The specialized inter-district court for criminal cases of Atyrau region has completed the consideration of the case of the former vice-mayor of the region Nurlan Taubaev and the former head of the Construction Department of Atyrau region Timur Basarov, accused of taking a large bribe (about $430,000).
As ACCA has already reported, Taubaev and Basarov were detained on September 10, 2020 by employees of the Anti-Corruption Agency.
On October 22 of the same year, Taubaev, who declared his complete innocence, said that he had resigned.
“I made a decision and on October 22 I applied to the mayor of Atyrau region to release me from my post as first deputy mayor of Atyrau region. This decision is not connected with any admission of guilt on my part in the criminal case under investigation, I intend to prove my innocence, since I didn’t do anything of which I am accused.
This decision is dictated solely by the fact that while the investigation is ongoing, I cannot hold such a responsible position,” Taubaev wrote on social networks.
In December 2020, the investigation into the case of the former vice-mayor was completed. According to the Anti-Corruption Agency, Taubaev and Basarov were charged with taking a bribe by a group of persons by prior agreement in an especially large amount (more than $430,000) for assisting in signing an acceptance certificate for a facility of a new hospital complex with 200 beds in the city of Kulsary in Atyrau region and general patronage.
The case was sent to court. The start of the trial was scheduled for February 2021. However, due to the fact that Taubaev underwent surgery, the trial was postponed. Hearings were resumed on 4 April. The prosecutor Nurzhan Zhangereev asked for 11 years in prison for Taubaev with a life ban on holding government positions, and for Basarov – 8 years and 5 months in prison with a similar ban on holding government positions.
And now, after a month of proceedings, the court came to the conclusion that both defendants were guilty of the crimes they were accused of.
As it became known that during the trial, in July 2020, the vice-mayor of Atyrau region Nurlan Taubaev, who was in charge of the construction sector, met with the deputy director of the construction company “BKK”, which was building a hospital in the city of Kulsary (Zhylyoi district). At the meeting, Taubaev demanded a bribe in the amount of 10% of the contract amount. However, during the negotiations, the amount of the bribe was reduced to 7%.
A few days later, Timur Basarov, who is directly subordinate to Taubaev, received over $435,000 from the governing body of the company “BKK”. While receiving a bribe, Basarov was caught red-handed. Taubaev was detained after him. The court concluded that Taubaev was guilty of attempting to receive a bribe by a person holding a responsible state position, by extortion, by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, on an especially large scale. As a result, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and his subordinate Basarov – to 5 years in prison. The convicts will serve their sentences in a colony-settlement.
The verdict of the court hasn’t yet entered into force. It’s worth noting that Taubaev didn’t agree with the verdict.
“It’s quite clear to me that the verdict, word for word, down to commas, has been was copied from the indictment provided to you by the prosecutor. This criminal case was falsified. On September 10, employees of the Anti-Corruption Agency deceived me out of their building an hour before the crime, allegedly committed by Basarov. Please pay attention to this! At the same time, no charges were brought against me and no explanation was given why I was detained. Charges were brought against me only the next day, and even then after my case was abandoned by two investigators, because they couldn’t understand what I was accused of. And only the investigator, who came from Chimkent, undertook to conduct my case. But he didn’t conduct, but concocted it. Our case was concocted from the very beginning,” said the former vice-mayor.
