Investigation Launched into Forensic Center Officials in Astana for Alleged Embezzlement

Astana's Financial Monitoring Agency department has initiated a pre-trial investigation into Forensic Examination Center officials suspected of embezzling two billion tenge. A contractor who supplied equipment to the center is also implicated in the case, reports Orda.kz.

The FMA specified that new equipment was purchased for forensic examination bodies as part of a comprehensive plan to combat drug addiction and drug trafficking for 2023-2025, with 10.3 billion tenge allocated from the budget for this purpose.

In 2023-2024, officials of the Forensic Science Center in Astana, acting in collusion with suppliers, inflated the cost of equipment by three times when forming a budget request. They provided fictitious commercial proposals. In addition, before the announcement of the tender for public procurement, the technical specifications indicated only the equipment that could be supplied by affiliated companies, the FMA report says.

The director of the forensic examination center, the head of the department of public procurement, and the general director of the LLC (the company's name has not yet been disclosed) have been detained and are in custody.

Authorities seized property from the Forensic Center officials, including two plots of land in Almaty, an apartment in Astana, and BMW X6 and RAV 4 vehicles.

The total value of all seized property exceeds 148 million tenge.

The LLP's funds were also frozen, with 1.6 billion tenge, 367 thousand dollars, and 366 thousand euros arrested in the company's bank accounts.

The pre-trial investigation continues.

Original Author: Anastasia Prilepskaya