Kezbi Director Sentenced in 1.5 Billion Tenge Embezzlement Case

The trial over the embezzlement of 1.5 billion tenge at LLP Kezbi has concluded in Aqtau, Orda.kz reports.

Yerzhan Kezbayev, the managing director of the drilling company, was found guilty of misappropriating funds intended for workers engaged in oil well repairs.

Investigators stated that Kezbayev withheld nearly half of the salaries and bonuses allocated to employees from 2022 to 2023. 

According to the ruling, Kezbi signed two contracts in 2022 with JSC OzenMunayGas for capital and underground well repairs. Under these agreements, along with several supplementary contracts, including those adjusting tariffs, shift lengths, and bonuses, approximately 17.8 billion tenge was transferred to the company.

The contracts specified that no less than 70% of the allocated funds should be directed toward crew salaries. However, Kezbayev allocated only 51.5% to wages in 2022 and 57.7% in 2023, retaining nearly 1.5 billion tenge for other uses.

Kezbayev Y.B., in violation of the terms of the above-mentioned agreements and additional agreements to them for the payment of wages to employees of the PRS and KRS brigades of at least 70% of the allocated funds, actually sent funds for the payment of wages to these employees in the amount of 11,188,003,153.05 tenge for 2022, or 51.54% of the total amount of cash expenditure for the specified period, which is 18.46% (70% - 51.54%) less than provided for in the terms of the agreements for 2023 - in the amount of 11,164,502,797.48 tenge or 57.68% of the total amount of cash expenditure for the specified period, which is 12.32% (70% - 57.68%) less than provided for in the terms of the agreements,
 the court ruling states.

To conceal the scheme, Kezbayev instructed subordinates to sign work completion certificates on behalf of the company’s general director — his father — without disclosing his actual intentions.

This allowed payments to continue flowing into Kezbi’s accounts, while significant portions were diverted. Bitim Kezbayev, who had long led the company and is officially listed as its general director, retired in 2022 due to age and health, effectively transferring management to his son.

The case unfolded against a backdrop of worker unrest, with oilfield employees repeatedly staging protests to demand better wages and working conditions. In 2024, a tax audit revealed major discrepancies in the company's finances.

This led to an additional charge against Yerzhan Kezbayev: tax evasion under Article 245, Part 3 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code. Investigators determined that from August 2023 to March 2024, he submitted falsified reports showing zero income to avoid tax liabilities.

Thus, the defendant Kezbayev Y.B., by his deliberate illegal actions, committed evasion of tax and other mandatory payments to the budget from the organization by entering deliberately distorted data on income and expenses into the declarations, which resulted in non-payment of tax and other mandatory payments in an especially large amount in the total amount of 1,570,386,723 tenge 63 tiyn,
follows from the case materials. 

The court found Kezbayev guilty on all charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. He is also barred from holding managerial roles in commercial organizations within the oil and gas sector for the same duration.

Additionally, the court ordered him to pay compensation to two parties: over 320 million tenge to JSC OzenMunayGas, and 1.5 billion tenge to the State Revenue Department of the Mangystau Region.

Original Author: Dinara Bekbolaeva