Another corruption scandal in the Ministry of Education in Kazakhstan
Anar Kairbekova, Director of the Department of Administrative Work and Public Procurement of the Ministry of Education and Science, accused Aryn Orsariev, Executive Secretary of the Department, and Rustem Bigari, Vice-Minister of education, of creating a corruption scheme.
According to Kairbekova, the Ministry concluded an agreement with one company on the provision of server migration services to ensure the operation of the national educational base.
About 125 000 dollars were allocated from the budget for these purposes. However, the contractor didn’t hurry to fulfill his obligations. At the same time, according to Kairbekova, Orsariev and Bigari enforced her to initial the documents necessary for transferring money to the contractor.
“When I understood their selfish intentions, I refused to Vice-Minister Bigari to sign the agreement, stopped the work on the procedure of the document’s initial. However, Orsariev began to enforce me to make the contract, subsequently signing the contract, he paid the supplier in full for outstanding work,” Kairbekova told reporters.
Meanwhile, the Ministry’s employees, against whom Kairbekova spoke, reject the charge of corruption, and the statement of their colleague they called slander. According to Aryn Orsariev, the contractor received the money under the contract, since all the work was performed by him. He also claims that he did not enforce Kairbekova, but only complied with the decision of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, which recommended to the Ministry of Education and Science impose a disciplinary sanction on the woman in violation of the requirements of the Ethics Code for civil servants of Kazakhstan.
Minister of Education and Science Askhat Aimagambetov said that he received a complaint against the actions of Orsariev and Bigari from Kairbekova. According to the Minister, the audit is being carried out on this statement; the results will be announced soon.
This is not the first corruption scandal at the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan this year.
On July 10, the Esil District Court of Nur-Sultan issued a verdict in the case of Vice-Minister of Education and Science Elmira Sukhanberdieva. She was accused of abuse of power and taking a bribe, as well as illegal participation in entrepreneurial activity.
As the prosecutor Nurlan Bekmagambetov told the court, Sukhanberdieva, having abused her official position, forced entrepreneurs to purchase expensive Iphone X smartphones and tablets in order to hand them to schoolchildren at their meeting with the Minister of Education.
Judge Bakhytzhan Esenov supported all the charges of the prosecutor and sentenced Sukhanberdieva to a fine of $15 500. The verdict also deprived the former Vice-Minister of the right to hold public positions for life. Sukhanberdieva was released from custody in the courtroom.
