Jury Reviews Case of Former Shymkent National Security Official Accused of Large-Scale Fraud

A jury is reviewing the case of Manat Sarbasov, a former senior official of the Shymkent National Security Committee, who is accused of large-scale fraud, bribery, and laundering of illegally acquired assets, Orda.kz reports.

Four other individuals are also on trial.

The proceedings at the Shymkent Specialized Inter-District Criminal Court began with motions from Sarbasov and his legal team. The defendant requested a handwriting examination of the signatures of National Security Committee officers on certain documents, alleging falsification.

His lawyers also sought to admit a phonographic examination of leaked conversations between blogger Aigul Orynbek and Elmira Duysenkyzy into the case materials.

Elmira Duysenkyzy, a key witness, gave detailed testimony in court. She was accompanied by three lawyers and described the financial arrangements she allegedly had with Sarbasov over many years:

When we first met in 2007, he was in charge of education and healthcare at the National Security Committee. At the same time, he also announced the amount of his rates — 12 million tenge per year, a million per month. When I said that I did not have that kind of money, he threatened possible problems and inspections. I called the accountant. I asked: do we have any money on hand right now? They said no, there are no extra funds. There is only money for a loan. However, despite this, I had to find a million and handed it to him in an envelope. 

According to her, a year later, the payment increased to 1.5 million tenge per month.

Sarbasov allegedly began placing people on her staff payrolls without them working there. By 2009, the payments had reached 2.5 million tenge per month. Sarbasov initially collected the money in person but later began sending intermediaries. 

Even after his transfer to Almaty, the arrangement continued through a subordinate, Shotanov.

When the split of the Shymkent and Turkistan Regions occurred, the payments reportedly doubled due to the need to divide them with another official:

In 2019, I opened a private school, Riana, but they did not accept documents for budget funding. Manat said that he was a king and a god, and that whatever he decided, that would be it. Everyone in the education department was afraid of him. He even began to threaten Akerke Abylaikhan (then the head of education in Shymkent). 

That year, her application for per capita financing was rejected for the first time, and Sarbasov raised the amount again. Duysenkyzy stated that Sarbasov inflated the number of enrolled students at her school to over 1,000 and raised the monthly payment to five million tenge.

At the time, funding was distributed via the Ministry of Education's financial center, which was partly overseen by Galymzhan Dzhumashev, who is now also facing his own charges.

When the problems with Riana started, I called both Dzhumashev and Sarbasov. Both of them started to reassure me that they would solve everything, but on September 2, 2021, I was detained.

Duysenkyzy said Sarbasov only returned 15 million tenge, which he passed through her lawyer. To cover damages from the budget misuse case, she sold a toykhana ( event center used for celebratory purposes - Ed.) inherited from her mother.

Ultimately, she decided to file a formal complaint against Sarbasov, citing threats. She also testified about the involvement of blogger and National Qurultay member Aigul Orynbek.

According to her, Orynbek contacted her after the investigation began, introduced herself as a lawyer, and offered assistance in exchange for 10 million tenge. Orynbek had no legal license, however.

Duysenkyzy later filed a complaint with the Shymkent police, suspecting her of fraud.

Original Author: Alexandra Kim