A court in Uralsk has sentenced Barlyk Mendygaziyev, business manager of Karachaganak Support Service (KSS), according to case materials. Under the pretext of purchasing equipment, he persuaded the director to transfer $2.2 million to a firm under his control in the United States. Taking into account a previous sentence, he was given 10 years in prison. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Circumstances of the case

According to the West Kazakhstan Regional Court, the convicted man registered Karachaganak Support Service (KSS) LLP in Aksai and was initially its sole founder and head. Later he distributed shares among employees, but in fact continued to control the company in the position of business manager.

As the court established, while in the United States, the man told the new director of KSS that equipment needed to be purchased to extend the contract with TenizChevOil LLP. As it later turned out, this was a deception.

How currency controls were bypassed

To circumvent Kazakhstan's currency control requirements, the business manager persuaded the director to formalize the transactions as interest-free loans. The company transferred $2.2 million in several payments to the account of KSS Charlotte LLC, a US company under his control. In the case materials, this amount is stated as the equivalent of 948,337,000 tenge.

The court's verdict

For fraud on an especially large scale, the Uralsk City Court sentenced the man to eight years of imprisonment. Taking into account the punishment under the verdict of Court No. 2 of Atyrau dated July 24, 2025, the final term was 10 years.

"The final punishment was imposed in the form of 10 years of imprisonment, to be served in a medium-security institution of the penal correction system," the court's statement says.

The man was also banned from holding managerial positions in commercial enterprises for three years. Property obtained through criminal means is subject to confiscation.

The court fully satisfied KSS's civil claim and recovered $2.2 million in damages from the convicted man, as well as the state fee. To secure the recovery, the arrest on the bank accounts of the man and the foreign company under his control was maintained.

The verdict has not entered into legal force and may be appealed in cassation proceedings.

Background

In 2020, Kursiv wrote that Mendygaziyev had been placed on the international wanted list. At that time, he was accused of tax evasion and creating an organized criminal group.