Former Astana Culture Department Head Claims Media Pressure During Trial

Yesterday, the former head of Astana's Department of Culture, Bolat Mazhagulov, took to Instagram to defend himself against media allegations of embezzling over a billion tenge in fountain construction funds, Orda reports.

Mazhagulov claims that recent media coverage has misrepresented the facts and unfairly favors the prosecution.

Mazhagulov argues that these reports come from media outlets that haven't attended any court sessions and were published after the allegations were not confirmed in court.

The dissemination of false or distorted information that is beneficial to the investigation but not confirmed in court proceedings can be considered pressure on the court. It contradicts the principles of equality and adversarial proceedings in the administration of justice, and creates an unfounded negative public opinion towards one of the participants in the process. I believe that this violates my right to an objective consideration of the circumstances of the case, preventing the court from making a lawful and reasoned decision, Mazhagulov stated.

He maintains that court evidence shows the "Sun Fountain" project on the Yesil River was approved and funded in 2016 by Astana's Akimat leadership, public council members, and maslikhat deputies.

Thus, the prosecution's claim that the installation of the fountain was my initiative was refuted. The Department of Economic Investigations established the targeted use of the allocated funds for the implementation of the project for the assembly and installation of the 'Sun Fountain.' It was confirmed that the allocated budget funds by the Astana Department of Culture were used exclusively to pay for the services of assembling the 'Sun Fountain' in accordance with the budget financing program, added the former official.

According to Mazhagulov, the court revealed that the fountain's malfunction was due to stolen cables and equipment, which had been investigated by Astana police in 2020.

This contradicts media reports about poor-quality construction materials.

The information published in the media about violations in the public procurement procedure for this project is also unreliable. Thus, the court examined the case materials, including the conclusions of responsible specialists in the field of public procurement, interrogations of a number of them, which established the compliance of the procedures carried out for the 'Sun Fountain' project with the requirements of the legislation on public procurement, he added.

Mazhagulov noted that over eight years, multiple audits and inspections, including those by the prosecutor's office, found no procurement violations by the Astana Department of Culture.

Thus, the attempt after a considerable period of time to place responsibility on me for the non-functioning 'Sun Fountain,' installed by decision of the Astana Akimat and local representative bodies, is absurd and does not correspond to facts and logic. The trial on the charges brought against me continues and is coming to an end. I hope for its objectivity and fairness. Stay tuned for updates,he concluded.

Mazhagulov is on trial in Astana, facing charges of embezzling over a billion tenge allocated for the Sun Fountain project.

The investigation specifies that the fountain was constructed without proper documentation and expert evaluation and that substandard materials were used.

Original Author: Artem Volkov