Price of freedom: $150mln

$50mln and $100mln US – these are the amounts paid by the potential players involved in the budget funds embezzlement and misappropriation of state property in Atyrau Oblast in order to evade from further criminal prosecution. Unlike those who simply fled the country or still hiding within its confines.

NO ANSWER FROM ‘THESE’. ‘THOSE’ ARE FAR AWAY

To recall, after we received the official response to our enquiry from Frontier Service of the RoK National Security Committee (See ‘Frontier guards know where the brothers are’ and ‘Ryskaliyevs never crossed the border’) we further addressed our enquiry to A. Daulbaev, the General Prosecutor, and R. Tusupbekov, the Chairman of the Financial Police (see ‘The Governor and the Deputy don’t go just missing’).  

In his response M. Zhoumanbai, the Financial Police press secretary, shared with us the information that is already known to all, i.e. “this year on September 27, the Operational-Investigations Group of Financial Police Agency launched a criminal case against Amanzhan Ryskali in relation to fraudulently taking 9 apartments in the residential block in Atyrau from AB-Group LLP, therefore inflicting the damage to the above construction company in the amount of 200mln tenge.  

On October 1, Amanzhan Ryskali was charged in absentia and the court sanctioned his arrest. He is put on the international wanted list and currently the operative-search actions are ongoing to establish his whereabouts. Other information in the interests of the investigation is not disclosed.”

FinPol reacted to our enquiry very swiftly, but as you can see they haven’t said a word about the fate of our ex-Oblast Akim Bergei Ryskaliev. The Public Prosecutor’s Office didn’t respond in a similar formal way, but also evaded from the direct answer. It forwarded our enquiry to S. Shalabayev, the Deputy Public Prosecutor of Atyrau Oblast. After that his subordinate, A. Dyusengaliev, the Head of Public Prosecutor’s Department of Atyrau Oblast baled out of the difficulties by sending our enquiry to … T. Khasanov, the head of FinPol investigation team. A vicious circle!

Although his ‘home and hearth’ financial police already replied to us with a simple formal letter, we gave them a call. But the head of investigators group from Astana refused to answer to our question regarding the whereabouts of ex-Oblast Akim.

Here we could stop and close the topic of editorial enquiry, but who from the Public Prosecutor’s Office should be hold responsible for infringement of RoK Law “On Mass Media?” We never received the answer, after all.

IS IT ALL? YOU ARE FREE!

Currently dozens of officials and heads of contract organizations have been arrested for well-known criminal cases. According to our records there are already 35 of them, including ex-Deputy Oblast Akim Bolat DAUKENOV and ex-Akim of Atyrau city Askar Kerimov, as well as other lower rank officials. Financial police also arrested hundreds of movable and immovable assets, bank accounts and many millions in cash.

Speaking of millions, according to informal information, the citizens Z, D, P and a couple of other persons, who are connected to the infamous construction company, finally calmed down. They won’t be summoned for interrogations and frightened with questions about some embezzlement. They have started construction activities, and the proof of that is the reactivation at their construction sites funded from the budget.

Speaking about this happy occasion one can suppose and say anything. For example, suppositions that their further criminal prosecution has been stopped due to their full repentance and an active cooperation with the investigation, and, above all, the voluntary return to the state of all illegally appropriated money and property, including buildings, pipelines and even the former OblTransGas company, as well as the suppositions that the bigger damage to state would have been done if these persons were arrested, and their firms went bankrupt.

In such case there would be nobody who could finish dozens of unfinished construction projects. But our source affirms that the guys simply collected money and handed over 50mln dollars to the right people in Astana. So the truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle?

The head of another notorious construction company, a certain citizen C, he is also wanted for questioning by investigation team, managed to get off absolutely light. He fled the native country via the Oral city, and before that he sent there his family. At departing he laughed in the faces of those who begged him to stay and promised to square the police.

The same unofficial source reported that one of the ex-deputy Oblast Akims, who made a good fortune, mainly on black caviar and sturgeon fish, was privately released from prosecution due to … the state of his health, that severely failed after he was mercilessly beaten by his boss and his deputy brother in the out-of-town residency.

This former official now hardly moves using the wheelchairs and for the sake of peace he handed over to the same right people in Astana 100mln dollars, thus, becoming practically poor. Is it, again, an exaggeration?

BIG BROTHER’S ACT OF GRACE

As it is known, the frontier service has officially informed us that Ryskaliev brothers since August 15 of this year (the date when the Akim was changed) didn’t cross the border.

Formally, the frontier guards are right, because our source stated the brothers had both foreign visas and several Kazakhstan passports. Therefore, they easily crossed the border under different names. This is not surprising, if we recall that, namely, in Atyrau fake passports have been issued to the relatives of Mukhtar Ablyazov and they managed to escape to London with fake documents.

The story with fled brothers and their sidekicks wouldn’t be so important, if not for Aslan Musin’s subsequent smooth transition from the position of the head of presidential administration to the chairman of audit committee, who was considered their patron. This new appointment has automatically helped many of his people to keep their positions, including in the law enforcement bodies, who so skillfully hide any information about the location of our ex-Akim. After all, he was part of their team.

It is clear, that in a case with Musin, the president applied the so-called system of checks and balances of various clans. But, on the other hand, it is a major precedent, a certain new signal to action for other clans: one should urgently force way to his/her own people to the positions of Oblast Akims.

Let them steal and share it with you, and if anything happens – they will pay it off or flee. This is the probable conclusion and it is very dangerous.    

But what is more dangerous, for the sake of interests of two dozens of people, Akorda is drastically losing its trust in front of hundreds of thousands of Atyrau citizens. It’s been 4 months, and it is time to openly and fairly tell: your Akim is the thief and embezzler of public funds, and he was dismissed for this and not due to the state of his health. We are searching for him, we will find him and he will be punished. Nothing happened neither to Ak Zhol party nor to the parliament because one of its deputies is now put on the wanted list?

By Ak Zhaik editors