Financial Monitoring Agency Uncovers Price Gouging in Public Procurement Worth Nearly 4 Billion Tenge
Photo: Elements.envato.com, ill. purposes
Deputy Chair of the Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA), Kairat Bizhanov, has reported violations in Kazakhstan’s public procurement system conducted through the Omarket platform, Orda.kz reports.
To ensure transparency and reduce the risk of theft, the Omarket.kz platform was created. It is used for public procurement of goods worth up to 100 MCI. The system automatically compares price offers and awards the order to the supplier offering the lowest price. While the process appears fully transparent, we periodically discover discrepancies between initial and actual prices. For example, the price of ordinary packaging tape ranges from 2 tenge to 99,000 tenge per piece — a difference of nearly 50,000 times, Bizhanov said.
According to him, such manipulations are used to artificially inflate average prices. In 7,500 cases, price offers were deleted immediately after the contracts were signed.
A selective audit of 8,000 contracts worth 8.3 billion tenge revealed overpricing totaling nearly 4 billion tenge. In addition, investigators identified cases where products did not comply with technical specifications.
Original Author: Artyom Volkov
Latest news
- Kazakhstan’s IT Market Slows After Years of Rapid Growth, but Salaries Keep Rising
- Why the Oil Price Spike Did Not Help Kazakhstan’s Budget Much, the Ministry Explained
- Why More Women in Kazakhstan Are Working Beyond the 40-Hour Week
- Drone Strikes on CPC Drag Down Kazakhstan’s Oil and Gas Output
- New Parking Rules Approved in Astana: How Much Will Drivers Pay and Who Is Exempt?
- Shell and Eni Replaced in Karachaganak Gas Plant Project
- Economist Calculates How Much Income Kazakhstanis Actually Keep
- Samruk-Kazyna Raises 3 Billion Yuan on AIX in Record-Low Panda Bond Deal
- Kazakhstan to Build Four New Airports by 2028
- State-Owned Plant in Atyrau Tried to Buy Sturgeon Caviar for Nearly 150 Million Tenge
- Chaos and Delays at the Border: Kazakhstan Wants to Bring Queues Under Control With New Rules
- Major Illegal Migration Channel Dismantled in Shymkent
- “A Shameful Sight”: Dump Near Altyn-Emel Caught on Video
- Kazakhstan Is Preparing to Increase the Scrap Fee on Cars From Russia
- Work Permits For Migrants To Go Fully Online As PSCs End Service
- Kazakhstanis Expect Higher Inflation but Remain Optimistic About the Future
- Support For Rural Doctors Doubles Amid Staffing Shortage
- South Korean Shareholder To Inject 4.7 Billion Tenge Into Kazakhstan’s Only Loss-Making Bank
- Tokayev Finishes Uzbekistan Trip With Focus on Trade and Environmental Cooperation
- Kashagan Operator Accused Of Stalling Sulfur Fine Pending Washington Arbitration
