Sarbasov Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison: Court Delivers Verdict in Bribery and Embezzlement Case

The Shymkent Specialized Interdistrict Criminal Court has delivered its verdict in a case of corruption and embezzlement in the education and healthcare sectors. The main defendant, Manat Sarbasov, former First Deputy Head of the National Security Committee (KNB) Department for Shymkent, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, Orda.kz reports.

Judge Alinur Karabayev announced the verdict after months of jury hearings.

Manat Sarbasov

According to the case file, Sarbasov was charged with accepting a bribe on an especially large scale, laundering property obtained through criminal activity, and failing to act in his official capacity.

The court found him guilty on these charges but acquitted him of fraud and incitement to bribery.

Sarbasov was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment in a medium-security facility. The court also stripped him of his lieutenant colonel rank from the National Security Committee, banned him for life from holding public office, and confiscated property acquired through illegal means, including his apartment and Land Cruiser 200. In addition, he was ordered to repay the bribe amount of 70 million tenge.

Temirkhan Varzilov

Temirkhan Varzilov, former head of the Shymkent City Health Department, was found guilty of abuse of office. The court considered mitigating circumstances, including his young children, chronic illness, and partial confession.

The court took into account the defendant’s family situation and imposed a non-custodial sentence.
 the judge noted.

Varzilov was sentenced to four years of restricted freedom and received a lifetime ban from holding public office.

Aidos Srailov

Aidos Srailov, a former officer of the Shymkent National Security Committee (KNB), was partially acquitted. The prosecutor’s office dropped one charge, but the court found him guilty under Article 364, Part 1 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code — “illegal entrepreneurial activity.”

Taking into account the 2021 amnesty, Srailov was released from the main sentence, but was stripped of his KNB major rank and permanently banned from public office.

Due to the commission of a minor crime, the defendant is eligible for amnesty but is permanently banned from holding public office, Judge Karabayev emphasized.

Chingis Dzhanabayev

Chingis Dzhanabayev, former head of the Capital Construction and Equipment Department of the Shymkent Health Department, was found guilty of embezzlement of state property on an especially large scale.

He was sentenced to seven years in a medium-security facility and received a lifetime ban from public service.

The sentence was minimal because the defendant has young children and there are no aggravating circumstances, the judge explained.

Yerlan Tyshkanbayev

Entrepreneur Yerlan Tyshkanbayev, head of a company that supplied medical equipment, was convicted of complicity in the embezzlement of budget funds. The court recognized his secondary role in the scheme and imposed a suspended sentence of seven years with probation supervision and a ban on holding leadership positions in business.

The Jury’s Verdict

The jury delivered the verdict by a narrow majority vote of six to five. The court credited time served in pretrial detention: one day in custody was counted as one and a half days of imprisonment, while two days under house arrest equaled one day of restricted freedom.

The trial lasted approximately six months, and the defendants had spent over 20 months in custody.

This two-year-long corruption case became one of Shymkent’s most high-profile trials, involving dozens of witnesses, hundreds of pages of evidence, and a jury decision reached by the slimmest of margins.

Original Author: Alexandra Kim