Former Qazseleqorgau Officials Sentenced in Corruption Case

The former head of Qazseleqorgau, Karim Kokrekbayev, along with other defendants, has been sentenced, Orda.kz reports.

The corruption case was tried in the Almaty Region Court with a jury. Kokrekbayev and his former deputy, Adilet Akhatayev, were accused of accepting a large bribe. Andrei Poplavsky, former director of a Bazis Construction branch, was charged with offering the bribe and causing property damage.

The case dates back to 2019, when Bazis Construction won a 30 billion tenge contract to build engineering and protective structures on the Khorgos River in the Almaty region.

In October 2022, Deputy Head of Qazseleqorgau Adilet Akhatayev signed an additional agreement. Investigators allege that Akhatayev and Kokrekbayev used their positions to influence procurement and accepted bribes from  Poplavsky in exchange for signing documents and facilitating payments to the contractor.

In June 2024, a jury acquitted Kokrekbayev, while Akhatayev and Poplavsky were each sentenced to 11 years. However,  the prosecutor's office protested the acquittal. Kokrekbayev was re-arrested, his verdict overturned, and the case returned for retrial.

Today, the Specialized Interdistrict Criminal Court of Almaty Region, again with a jury, sentenced Kokrekbayev to 12 years in prison. Sentences for Akhatayev and Poplavsky remain unchanged.

All three have been permanently barred from holding public office. The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.

In February, defense attorneys for Kokrekbayev, Akhatayev, and Poplavsky claimed in court that evidence in the case had been falsified.

Original Author: Anastasia Prilepskaya