Former Regional Deputy Sentenced for Large-Scale Fraud

The Interdistrict Criminal Court sentenced former East Kazakhstan Region maslikhat deputy Elena Belentseva and lawyer Daniyar Mergenbayev to prison terms for large-scale fraud, Orda.kz reports.

The Astana Interdistrict Court for Criminal Cases found Belentseva, who previously served as a deputy and headed Olimp Trans Service and KEMONT JSC, and Mergenbayev guilty under Article 190, Part 4, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code.

Belentseva, together with Mergenbayev and another individual, acting by prior conspiracy, stole funds from Ereymentau Wind Power LLP (a subsidiary of Samruk-Energo) between 2020 and 2022, intended for the implementation of the project 'Construction of a wind power plant in the city of Ereymentau with a capacity of 50 MW,'
 the court report states.

According to the prosecution, the funds were misappropriated through fictitious contracts and transactions involving affiliated companies. The total damage exceeded 8.5 billion tenge.

The case also references JSC "P," a company with which Belentseva signed a contract for transformer substation supplies but allegedly failed to fulfill her obligations, causing additional damages exceeding 157 million tenge.

The court sentenced Elena Belentseva to eight years and six months of imprisonment, with the deprivation of the state award, the Order of Qurmet, and Daniyar Mergenbayev to six years and eight months of imprisonment.

Orda.kz previously reported on problems at Belentseva’s company, KEMONT, in 2023, when over 300 employees went without pay for nearly six months.

Original Author: Anastasia Prilepskaya