The 583 Million Tenge School Scam: 14 Officials Headed to Prison

A court trial has concluded in the Baidibek district of the Turkistan region regarding the systematic embezzlement of budget funds allocated to the education sector. An investigation conducted by the regional department of the Financial Monitoring Agency exposed a criminal group of 18 individuals, including heads of the district education department, accountants, and economists.

According to investigation materials, these individuals organized a specific scheme to appropriate funds from 49 general education schools. They unjustifiably inflated budget applications for salaries and other payments, deliberately entering false information into electronic systems. Specifically, they added individuals who did not actually work to the payroll sheets or artificially increased the salaries and bonuses of existing employees.

To conceal these illegal operations, the criminal group forged official memos, orders, and time sheets, backdating some documents after payments had already been processed. The stolen funds were transferred to the bank accounts of "ghost" individuals, including relatives and acquaintances of the suspects, and were subsequently divided according to pre-arranged shares. As a result of these illegal activities, the damage caused to the state exceeded 583 million tenge. Notably, during the investigation, the suspects fully reimbursed the damages.

By court decision, 14 of the accused were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 7 years, depending on the severity of their involvement. Proceedings against the remaining four individuals were terminated in accordance with amnesty legislation. The court verdict has now officially entered into legal force.