Kazakhstan: Vice-minister tried to steal almost $400 million
The Anti-Corruption Agency, together with the Prosecutor General’s Office, managed to prevent the theft of almost $400 million, which the former vice-minister of ecology and his accomplices tried to carry out.
According to the Agency, the vice-minister of ecology, together with the leaders of the private company EPO Operator, intended to embezzle $396.5 million collected in the form of recycling fees by illegally financing a private organization for the construction of six waste incineration plants generating electricity.
“At the same time, electricity was supposed to be guaranteed to be purchased by the state for 15 years at an unreasonably high tariff and provide this private company with a multi-billion-dollar profit. As a result of timely measures taken, the specified illegal activity was stopped, the funds were arrested. The vice-minister of ecology and the former leaders of EPO Operator LLP are being held in custody. The final decision on guilt will be determined by the court,” the Agency noted in its statement.
As ACCA has already reported, EPO Operator company was engaged in collecting recycling fees for cars in Kazakhstan. Previously, this enterprise belonged to Aliya Nazarbayeva, the youngest daughter of the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Permission for EPO Operator to collect fees was once issued by the then Prime Minister Karim Masimov, who is now under arrest on suspicion of attempting to carry out a coup d’état.
However, after the January events in Kazakhstan, EPO Operator was transferred to the ownership of the state under the donation agreement, that is, it was actually nationalized. And the state joint-stock company “Zhasyl damu” became the new operator of the collection of recycling fees.
Literally a month after that, in early March, Svetlana Korotenko, the former general director of EPO Operator company, was arrested on suspicion of embezzling over $52 million.
And in early April, the former managing director of the private company EPO Operator was detained on suspicion of embezzling over $27 million.
“The suspect committed theft of entrusted funds by overestimating the cost of recycling decommissioned vehicles, illegally transferring them to the Recycling Company, thereby causing damage t/wped by Zhasyl damu JSC on an especially large scale. The ex-manager committed criminal acts in 2016-2019 together with other employees of EPO Operator. With the sanction of the court, he was taken into custody,” the Agency explained.
