Kazakhstan: mass arrests in health care services

Employees of the Anti-Corruption Agency detained Bolatbek Kayupov, head of the health department of the West Kazakhstan region. The official is suspected of accepting a bribe of $ 16,000. Kayupov was placed in a pre-trial detention center in Uralsk.

It’s worth noting that there is no official confirmation of the fact of the detention of the head of the regional health department. However, as ACCA managed to find out, the fact of receiving a bribe surfaced during an inspection by supervisory authorities of the distribution and utilization of budget funds allocated to fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, according to information obtained from insider sources, criminal cases have been initiated against the heads of health departments in some other regions of Kazakhstan.

There is also officially unconfirmed information that the anti-corruption service is conducting an investigation against the former Minister of Health of Kazakhstan, Yelzhan Birtanov.