Minister Addresses Former NU President's Allegations

Kazakhstan's Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek, has responded to allegations made by Shigeo Katsu, the former President of Nazarbayev University (NU), against the institution's current leadership, Orda.kz reports.

There was already a large comprehensive audit by the Supreme Audit Chamber last year. Based on its results, a separate large plan of activities was adopted. I cannot comment on Mr. Katsu's statement here, but I can only say that they are untrue. This comprehensive audit was conducted by the Supreme Audit Chamber on all issues, organizational, personnel, and financial, of course, first of all. Those violations that exist, we have now documented them all, so this large plan has already been separately approved by the university's board of trustees, all activities are being carried out according to it, Sayasat Nurbek said.

The Minister questioned the credibility of the media outlets publishing Katsu's allegations, expressing concern about potential damage to Kazakhstan's international reputation.

The publications are based on European sources. Dubious reputations, to be honest. That is to say, seriously, there are no such statements in significant outlets, in such, you know, so-called news aggregators. Therefore, even the fact that not a single serious media has published this also raises big questions, the Minister added.

The response follows a recent Supreme Audit Chamber investigation into the university's financial activities.

Original Author: Ilya Astakhov