Consideration of the criminal case of the nephew of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, well-known businessman Kairat Satybaldy, has ended in Astana.
According to the verdict of the District Court of Baikonur No. 2, Kairat Satybaldy was sentenced to 6 years in prison with confiscation of property.
As ACCA has already reported, Satybaldy was detained by employees of the Anti-Corruption Agency in the first half of March this year on suspicion of embezzlement of funds of the National Telecom Operator – Kazakhtelecom JSC and Center for Transport Service JSC on a large scale. At the trial, which began on September 16, in addition to Satybaldy, five more defendants appeared before Themis: Leonid Muravyov, Chingiz Konyrbaev, Gaini Beketov and Marat Mukhametzhanuly.
Already at the first court session, it turned out that on September 8, Kairat Satybaldy and Kazakhtelecom JSC concluded a mediation agreement, according to which Nazarbayev’s nephew pleaded guilty and compensated for the damage in the amount of $25 million.
By the way, the rest of the defendants also fully admitted their guilt and also entered into a mediation agreement and repented of their deeds. In addition, the defendants also compensated for the damage caused to Center for Transport Service JSC in the amount of more than $58 million.
However, no petitions were received from the affected companies to terminate the criminal prosecution of the defendants in view of the reconciliation of the parties, so the process continued.
At the next court session, prosecutor Zhangeldy Yesebayev, representing the prosecution, asked the court to find Nazarbayev’s nephew guilty of the crimes he was accused of and, according to the concluded procedural agreement, to sentence him to 6 years in a general regime colony, and also to prohibit him from holding public positions for a period of 10 years. Another demand is to deprive Satybaldy of state awards and the rank of Major General of the National Security Committee. At the same time, Kairat Satybaldy stated that he fully agreed with the charges against him, as well as with the punishment that the Prosecutor’s Office was asking for him.
Earlier the Anti-Corruption Agency, commenting on this criminal case, reported that during its investigation, illegally acquired assets and funds of the defendants totaling over $500 million were returned to the state.
The Agency also clarifies that real estate, cars and funds belonging to Kairat Satybaldy and other defendants totaling more than $900 million have been additionally revealed in Kazakhstan and abroad and will be returned soon to the state.
Also it should be noted that the end of this high-profile corruption case hasn’t yet been put by the court’s verdict. According to the Anti-Corruption Agency, a well-known Kazakh businessman Kemal Efendi has been put on the wanted list.
According to anti-corruption fighters, Efendi cashed out more than $140.7 million from Kairat Satybaldy’s personal account.
“The Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan continues the pre-trial investigation against Satybaldy and other persons on the facts of tax evasion and other obligatory payments to the budget, as well as the legalization (laundering) of money and other property obtained by criminal means. During the investigation, a special trustee of Satybaldy was identified. He is a citizen of Kazakhstan, Efendi Kemal, born in 1983, who is the founder and director of a number of commercial enterprises,” the Agency said.
According to investigators, Satybaldy gave Efendi a power of attorney to withdraw money from his account so that he could launder the money and property of Nazarbayev’s nephew obtained by criminal means. The Agency also added that Efendi left Kazakhstan in February of this year and is hiding from law enforcement agencies.
