In Chimkent, the trial of the former head of the Local Police Service (LPS) of the city, Mukhtar Bukharbaev, who is accused of abuse of power, has ended.
As ACCA has already reported, Mukhtar Bukharbaev was detained in April this year on suspicion of fraud using his official position.
Moreover, a criminal case against a high-ranking policeman was initiated on the basis of a complaint from his subordinate (the commander of the first company of the LPS’s regiment Azamat Aimbetov). According to Aimbetov, his boss regularly forced him to buy expensive things: gadgets, perfume, clothes, and even furniture. Tired of constant extortion, Aimbetov turned to the Internal Security Directorate under the Police Department of Chimkent city. However, they ignored his request. The company’s commander had to record a video message addressed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. But even it didn’t give the desired effect, although the public outcry was huge. And only after the second video message addressed to the head of state, Bukharbaev was detained.
The case of the ex-chief of the LPS of Chimkent, Mukhtar Bukharbaev, was submitted to the court on May 7.
As it turned out during the trial, Bukharbaev demanded that Aimbetov meet all his needs. So, in October 2019, he forced Aimbetov to buy for him plane tickets from Chimkent to Astana and back worth $190, in December – an Apple Watch for $210 and an iPhone XS for $840, in May 2020 – 4 Christmas trees, an irrigation system, 6 bags of compost and other garden fertilizers totaling $385 and Creed Aventus perfume for $465, in October 2020 – 3 Romano Botta T-shirts, A.RUFFALLO sneakers, Galvino trousers and Lublin leather shoes for a total of $566, as well as a Canali jacket worth $1377, in November – a chest of drawers and a furniture wall in the amount of $2588, in February 2021 – Apple AirPods Pro headphones for $235, in March – a Stalker power supply for $420. In addition, Bukharbaev periodically asked Aimbetov to transfer small amounts to the phone numbers of his friends and acquaintances. In total, as the investigators counted, Aimbetov “voluntarily-compulsorily” spent over $7.5 thousand to satisfy the appetites of his boss.
As the victim said at the trial, in order to fulfill the instructions of the boss, he had to constantly get into debt.
Meanwhile, the defendant pleaded not guilty at trial. According to Bukharbaev, he was on friendly terms with Aimbetov and never forced him to buy anything or transfer money to anyone. However, numerous witnesses, who were interrogated at the trial, confirmed that Bukharbaev ordered or took some things, and it was Aimbetov who paid for them.
After hearing the testimony and studying all the materials of the case, the judge of the Al-Farabi District Court of Chimkent, Gani Bayarystan, found Bukharbaev guilty of abuse of office and sentenced him to 7 years to be served in a penal colony. In addition, Bukharbaev is banned for life from holding positions in the civil service.
