Former Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan, ex-director of the National Museum Arystanbek Mukhamediuly was sentenced to 8 years in prison, the court of Astana says. The verdict was announced on June 20 in Baikonyr District Court No. 2. Mukhamediuly was found guilty of organizing a crime and embezzlement of someone else’s property entrusted to the guilty person on an especially large scale. It was established that director of the National Museum Arystanbek Mukhamediuly organized the theft in 2020 without actually providing services and shipping goods on an especially large scale, in cooperation with his deputy Almaz Nurazkhan and in the complicity of deputy director of Exhibit LLP Azamat Kashenov and accountant Ayym Sadvakasova, Judge Baglan Idrisov said. The theft of funds by embezzlement took place as part of the implementation of the international exhibition project “The Procession of Golden Man in the world museums” in India. The criminal act of the defendants caused damage to the state of 155,100,414 tenge ($335,000), according to the judge. Mukhamediuly, speaking with the last word, declared his innocence the day before. After the verdict was announced, Mukhamediuly announced his intention to challenge the court’s decision. The Astana court emphasized that the guilt of the defendants in this case was proved by the testimony of defendant Nurazkhan, representatives of the injured party, witnesses, the conclusions of specialists and an expert, protocols for seizing documents and searches of the place of work of the defendants, and other materials. Nurazkhan, Kashenov and Sadvakasova each received 7 years in prison. In addition, Mukhamediuly and Nurazkhan are deprived of the right to hold positions in the civil service and in the quasi-public sector for life. Kashenov and Sadvakasov are prohibited from engaging in activities related to public procurement for a period of 10 years.
Source: Central Asian News Services (CANS)