Hearings on the case of embezzlement of funds in the gas sector against a major Kazakh businessman Kairat Boranbayev began on Friday in court number 2 of the Saryarka district of Astana, the press service of the city court reported.
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“Today at 10.00 the trial began,” – said an employee of the press service of the city court.
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The Financial Monitoring Agency (AFM) of Kazakhstan previously reported that it had completed the investigation of a criminal case on charges of the founders of AsiaGazChundzha LLP Boranbaev and Roman Nakhanov, as well as the former deputy chairman of the board of the national gas company Qazaq Gaz JSC Taiyr Zhanuzak on the facts of embezzlement of 14.5 billion tenge (nearly $31 million) for the purchase of liquefied petroleum gas and the legalization of proceeds from crime.
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According to the agency, the damage caused to the national company was compensated in full by transferring it to the accounts of Qazaq Gaz JSC.
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In order to ensure the execution of the sentence in terms of possible confiscation of property, the funds of the accused in the amount of 38 billion tenge (81 million dollars), 15 real estate objects, and three vehicles were seized.
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The AFM also reported that it was continuing pre-trial investigations against Boranbayev and others in cases of embezzlement during gas exports and legalization of property obtained by criminal means.
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Boranbayev is a major Kazakhstani entrepreneur who, with a net worth of $590 million, ranked 14th in the ranking of the richest businessmen in Kazakhstan according to Forbes Kazakhstan magazine in 2021. Is a franchisee of McDonald’s in Kazakhstan, owns assets in real estate, oil and gas sector. Earlier it was reported that he was a franchisee of McDonald’s also in Belarus and a number of regions of Russia. He is a shareholder of the Karaganda pharmaceutical complex, which produced the Russian vaccine against the Sputnik V coronavirus. He heads the supervisory board of the Kairat football club and the national Paralympic Committee. Over the years, he held senior positions in the companies of the group of the national oil and gas company “Kazmunaigas”. Boranbayev’s daughter Alima was married to the grandson of the ex-president of Kazakhstan, Aisultan Nazarbayev, who died in 2020.
