Science Minister Comments on Billions in Violations in Grant Distribution

Minister of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan Sayasat Nurbek commented on the data regarding violations in the financing of scientific grants, Orda.kz reports.

According to him, in recent years, 15 large‑scale inspections have been carried out in the sector, including about five by the Supreme Audit Chamber. The total amount of identified violations is indeed estimated at tens of billions of tenge, but as the minister emphasized, these are mainly procedural violations.

Financial violations amount to 1.7 billion tenge — that is what we have according to the Supreme Audit Chamber for this large period. Of these, 1.2 billion tenge are subject to reimbursement. We are now dealing with these processes. For all other episodes, we have now developed a comprehensive action plan: on procedural violations, on the activities of the Science Foundation, on the activities of the National Center for State Scientific and Technical Expertise. Separate legislative decisions are being made for each of these systemic problems.Nurbek said at a government briefing. 

Nurbek separately commented on the figures announced by the Prosecutor General’s Office — 79 billion and 189 billion tenge. According to him, these amounts include projects with procedural violations, where the entire amount of funding is counted, even when there is no direct damage or signs of a crime.

The representation that the Prosecutor General’s Office submitted to the government concerns 79 billion tenge. There is also a separate representation for 189 billion tenge. We are now preparing detailed responses for each of them: identifying procedural violations and their nature. But the actual so‑called financial violations requiring compensation amount to 1.7 billion tenge. So these are two different categories. the minister added. 

According to the minister, work to address systemic problems continues, and the necessary amendments have already been submitted to parliament.

Original author: Ilya Astakhov

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