The appellate court of Almaty upheld the verdict in the high-profile case of embezzlement and money laundering of funds from Air Astana JSC. The defense's appeals were rejected. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
According to the press service of the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office, the organizer of the criminal scheme will serve nine years in a penal colony. Two other defendants received 8 years and 6 months of imprisonment each.
"All convicts were also sentenced to confiscation of property and a ban on holding positions in commercial organizations for 5 years," the prosecutor's office said.
The court granted the airline's claim for more than 1 billion tenge. To compensate for this damage, the convicts' property will be confiscated.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that Air Astana stated that the share of trading of its securities on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in the first months of 2026 increased compared to the same period last year. Previously, the Kazakhstan Association of Minority Shareholders (QAMS) suggested that the airline's management consider changing the foreign listing venue due to low trading volumes.