Are Antikor and The KNB Hunting Baibek's Team?

In recent months, law enforcement agencies have not ceased to surprise Kazakhstanis with various officials' detentions. Many of the detainees are somehow connected with the former akim of Almaty, Bauyrzhan Baibek.

Last in The List

As of today, the latest from the former akim's colleagues detained by law enforcement officers is Maksut Isakhov. He was detained on July 20, 2023, by KNB employees as opposed to Antikor employees. He is suspected of receiving a bribe in the amount of 200 thousand dollars.

Isakhov's last position - deputy akim of Shymkent. He assumed it in February 2020. Here he dealt with issues of transport and roads, tourism, sports, digitalization, cybersecurity, and controlling the use and protection of land.

Before that, a native of the Shardarinsky district in the Turkestan region, Isakhov had worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy company, the akimat of East Kazakhstan Region and Ust-Kamenogorsk, and the Ministry of Finance. But most importantly, he was the head of two departments in the Akimat of Almaty under akim Baibek. In June 2016, Isakhov was entrusted with the management of the Department of Passenger Transport and Roads. In May 2018, he was appointed head of the Department of Energy and Housing.

Developers' Best Friend

The Anti-Corruption Service recently announced the detention of the former head of the Department of Urban Planning and Urban Studies, Almaskhan Akhmedzhanov. His arrest was due to suspicion of abusing official authority when issuing land plots and approving the construction of facilities.

"Thus, he illegally approved the construction of three multi-apartment residential complexes on land plots intended for individual housing construction, contrary to the intended purpose and without taking into account the density of development, in the interests of individual construction companies in 2020-2023,"

Antikor informed.

For several years Akhmetzhanov was the chief architect of the southern capital under three akims Baibek, Sagintayev, and Dosayev. But at the end of May this year, he left. Bauyrzhan Baibek appointed him to this position in December 2018. Prior to this appointment, he worked in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Almaty for almost 20 years.

During his work as the chief architect, civil activists, including professional lawyers, repeatedly accused Akhmetzhanov of helping developers obtain land plots and permits for the construction of new residential complexes. This "help" was despite legislative prohibitions, residents' protests and experts' criticism. Contrary to President Toqayev's instructions and akims' promises, high-rise compacting buildings' construction continue, killing the metropolis.

A Dealer in Confiscated Real Estate

In April of this year, Antikor employees detained Deputy Minister of National Economy, Ilyas Userov. Userov worked in this position for a little more than a year. And before that, he worked for almost eight years in Almaty's Akimat. He started as deputy head of the Department of Economics and Budget Planning in 2015, i.e. the same year when Bauyrzhan Baibek was appointed the southern capital's akim. In 2017, Userov himself became the head of this department. In 2019, he was appointed Head of the Almaty Department of Economics and Budget Planning. In the same year, he became deputy akim of the city, where he remained until March 2022, until he transitioned to work in the MNE.

Currently, the case of Userov has already been transferred to the court. He is being charged with fraud on a particularly large scale. In 2019, without bidding, he allegedly sold communal property in Almaty (3 cottages and 2 apartments confiscated by a court verdict) to affiliated persons at an undervalued price. He had provided false assessment reports. The damage to the state amounted to 819 million tenge.

January Riots' Victim

On May 26 of this year, Medeu District Court No. 2 handed down a sentence to Rustem Bayseitov, the Almaty Sports Department's former head. He was found guilty under Article 361, part 4, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Abuse of official powers". He received a four-year-and-six-month sentence along with a ban on holding senior positions. Several of his colleagues were also convicted. The exact amount of the stolen funds was not reported. The Antikor investigation on former employees of the Sports Department indicated an amount of 367.5 million tenge, however.

Bayseitov received his position under Baibek. He left under Akim Dosayev in May last year. His health and ongoing pain served as an explanation posted on his Instagram page. Bayseitov was shot during the January riots of 2022 when he was in Akim Sagintayev's motorcade. At the same time, Bayseitov promised to return to work after rehabilitation, but "with different prospects."

The Price of Patronage

In January of this year, the Anti-Corruption Service detained the General director of Almaty Heating Networks, Kuanysh Beysenbinov. He was charged with receiving a bribe in the amount of 16 million tenge from the supplier of "Spetskommune" LLP for patronage and signing the act of completed works on public procurement of reconstruction of heating networks in Almaty.

Beysenbinov started working in the Akimat back in 2001 as a chief specialist in the energy complex department. Six years later, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Department of Energy and Utilities of Almaty. In 2016, he became the General Director of the State Enterprise PVC "Holding Almaty Su" of the Department of Energy and Utilities of Almaty. And in 2018, Bauyrzhan Baibek put him in charge of Almaty Thermal Networks LLP (AlTS). He remained there until January 2023.

He was unlikely successful in this, as AlTS employees had been dissatisfied with their small salaries (150-170 thousand tenge) and a shortage of specialists. Orda's editorial received a letter to the president from 200 employees confirming this back in October 2022.

Open Conversation with an Akim

It is also noteworthy that in January 2020, employees of the Anti-Corruption Service detained the former akim of the Alatau district of Almaty Shakhmerden Ryspaev on suspicion of embezzlement of budget funds on a large scale. He, as well as his deputy Sayat Agibayev and the head of the Department of Culture and Language Development, Yerkebulan Umiraliyev, were accused of embezzlement in 2019 of large-scale budget funds allocated under the state program "Development of Regions until 2020". Ryspaev was found guilty, fined 40,406,250 tenge and banned from holding positions in public service for life. At the same time, Agibayev was given two years in prison, while Moraliev received 3.5.

Ryspaev joined the civil service in 2001 as a leading specialist of the Almaty City Environmental Inspectorate. He has worked as a chief specialist of the state legal Department of the office of the akim of the Alatau district. In July 2017, he was appointed akim of the Alatau district. This was the last achievement in Ryspaev's career and it happened under Baibek.

Ryspaev also became the very first hero of the project of TC "Almaty" "Open conversation with akim". District akims answered concerned residents' questions. They would call the studio on the air.

The Wronged Father

In July of this year, two administrative protocols were drawn up against the father of the former akim — Kydyrgali Baibek on the facts of illegal business activity (Article 319 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and illegal construction (Article 463 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan). Regarding the illegal construction, a court found Kydyrgali Baibek guilty and imposed a fine of 51,750 tenge. But now he is waiting for another trial for illegal business activity.

Original Author: Danil Utyupin

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified the content is the same. Please refer to the original piece in Russian for accuracy.