Dental Clinics Used to Illegally Drain 200 Billion Tenge from National Pension Fund

The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) of Kazakhstan is conducting a large-scale investigation into the illegal withdrawal of funds from the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF).

Currently, 11 suspects have been taken into custody, while three others have been placed under house arrest. According to the FMA, the criminal scheme involved 42 dental clinics, which were used to illegally cash out more than 200 billion tenge.

The scheme operated by creating fictitious contracts for dental services supported by forged medical documents. In exchange for their "assistance," the suspects allegedly charged fees ranging from 10% to 20% of the withdrawn pension savings. The illicit proceeds were used to purchase luxury real estate, high-end vehicles, and to open new dental clinics registered under third parties to conceal ownership. Furthermore, it was revealed that approximately 30 million tenge in bribes were paid to medical professionals for issuing fraudulent clinical reports.

The Agency emphasized that ordinary citizens who withdrew their pension savings through this scheme will not face criminal charges. The pre-trial investigation is currently ongoing.