Kazakhstan arrests head of agricultural fund over embezzlement allegations VIDEO

Authorities in Kazakhstan’s Shymkent have uncovered large-scale embezzlement involving funds allocated for apple orchard development, according to the Financial Monitoring Agency.

Under the state programme, the Fund for Financial Support of Agriculture was supposed to lease agricultural plots with ready-made infrastructure to entrepreneurs, but investigators allege that the cost of equipment, materials, and construction work was artificially inflated, while part of the planned work was never carried out, Caliber.Az reports, citing Kazakh media.

Despite this, officials reportedly signed falsified acceptance documents, which were then used as the basis for transferring budget funds.

“The suspect [head of the Fund — Sputnik] Omarov Zh. D. has been placed in custody,” the statement said.

The total damage to the state is estimated at 430 million tenge (more than $900,000).

Previously in the same case, a former managing director of the Fund and the head of a controlled organisation, Green Mart Kazakhstan, were sentenced to eight years in prison.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov