Astana apartment case worth 4.4 billion tenge: how backdated contracts entered the investigation

Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency said on 16 October that it had completed an investigation into the alleged unlawful acquisition of Astana apartments worth 4.4 billion tenge. Investigators say contribution agreements were backdated in the names of people who had neither bought the homes nor been genuine participants in the construction project.

What the agency alleges

The agency links the case to the history of the Töleñdi housing cooperative. It says more than 80 purported participants were involved and 170 properties could have been assigned under the scheme. Nineteen people are suspects, according to the agency. Their individual guilt is for a court to decide.

The case is a reminder to check the legal status of a housing project, contracts, registered rights and the origin of documents before buying. An investigative statement is not a final conviction. The next meaningful developments will be the court proceedings and decisions on the disputed homes.

Source: Kazakhstan Financial Monitoring Agency.