Almaty's Medeu District Court ruled on 7 October 2026 to recover 29.14 billion tenge from Orifjan Shadiev, former owner of AsiaCredit Bank, and his assistant Mikhail Solovyov. The court also authorized foreclosure on a land plot of almost 110 hectares valued at 9.74 billion tenge, according to the court decision reviewed by Kursiv. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The case concerns compensation for damage to the bank, which lost its license in 2021. The defendants were also ordered to pay a state duty of 86.5 million tenge, or 43.25 million tenge each. The first-instance court decision may be appealed.
The proceedings are linked to a criminal case against former shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of AsiaCredit Bank Orifjan Shadiev and Mikhail Solovyov. According to case materials, in April 2019 Shadiev concluded an agreement with the bank's sole shareholder Nurbol Sultan to acquire shares in the credit institution. One of the deal's conditions was the termination of obligations of several bank borrowers by transferring the debt to other companies and replacing the collateral.
On 30 April 2019, Shadiev acquired 16.89 million ordinary voting shares of AsiaCredit Bank for 1 tenge. Subsequently, the borrowers' obligations were transferred to four companies: Carraige Cargo, DAP Trans Team, Eurasia Trans Com and Mountain River. Initially, the loans were secured by seven land plots in Almaty with a total collateral value of 25.17 billion tenge. However, in January 2021 these plots were replaced by a single land plot in the Gorny Gigant area.
As established in the criminal case, the market value of the new collateral was artificially inflated to 46.84 billion tenge, while the collateral value was set at 23.42 billion tenge. At that time, the actual value of the plot was 8.28 billion tenge. The court found that forged documents were used when replacing the collateral. As a result, the bank lost more liquid security for the issued loans.
In July 2023, the Almaly District Court found Shadiev and Solovyov guilty under Part 2 of Article 250 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan. Initially, the bank's civil claim was satisfied in the amount of 16.7 billion tenge.
However, in August 2023 the Almaty City Court changed the verdict. Shadiev was sentenced to one year and six months of restricted freedom with a lifetime ban on holding leadership positions in financial organizations and being a participant in them. Solovyov was sentenced to one year of restricted freedom with a five-year ban on similar activities.
The appellate instance annulled the decision to recover 16.7 billion tenge, recognizing the bank's right to compensation for damage. The issue of its final amount was referred for consideration under civil proceedings.
In the new court proceedings, the liquidation commission of AsiaCredit Bank presented a debt calculation as of 15 June 2026.
The total debt on the credit obligations under consideration reached 51.47 billion tenge. Of this amount, 15.81 billion tenge was principal debt, 23.07 billion tenge was accrued remuneration and 12.59 billion tenge was penalties. At the same time, the bank claimed 47.76 billion tenge directly for recovery as property damage. The court concluded that when determining the amount of damage, it is necessary to take into account the principal debt and contractual remuneration established by judicial acts that have entered into legal force.
At the same time, the court refused to include penalties of 12.59 billion tenge in the damage amount. The decision notes that the penalty arose as a result of subsequent improper performance of obligations by borrowers and is not in the necessary direct causal connection with the actions of Shadiev and Solovyov.
In addition, the court took into account the value of the land plot that remained as collateral with AsiaCredit Bank. According to an expert examination dated 7 September 2026, the market value of the plot was 9.74 billion tenge.
Thus, from the amount of principal debt and remuneration of 38.88 billion tenge, the court deducted the value of the collateral property. The final amount of property damage subject to recovery was 29.14 billion tenge.
AsiaCredit Bank lost its license on 11 February 2021 by decision of the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM). The grounds were systematic violations of prudential standards, repeated failure to comply with supervisory response measures, and failure by the bank's major participant to meet the regulator's requirements for additional capitalization.
At the time of license revocation, AsiaCredit Bank's assets amounted to 45.4 billion tenge, and its loan portfolio to 45 billion tenge. At the same time, 31.6 billion tenge, or 70% of the loan portfolio, accounted for non-performing loans with overdue payments of more than 90 days.
The bank's liquid assets amounted to only 75 million tenge, while the volume of unfulfilled client payments exceeded 8 billion tenge. The deficit of own capital required to form additional provisions reached 19 billion tenge.
As the ARDFM previously reported, from October 2019 the bank began violating prudential standards due to a lack of liquidity. The regulator applied 14 supervisory response measures to it and drew up 73 protocols on administrative offenses.
The bank's shareholder provided liquidity support of 15.4 billion tenge, but these measures did not stabilize the organization's financial position. After the license was revoked, the bank was forcibly liquidated.
Orifjan Shadiev is a Kazakh businessman, former owner of AsiaCredit Bank and Capital Bank Kazakhstan. In 2021, he ranked 40th in Forbes' list of the 50 most influential businessmen in Kazakhstan. In 2018, the magazine estimated his fortune at $177 million.
Shadiev also owned assets in the construction sector, including stakes in Integra Construction KZ and PRIME System KZ. The latter controlled the Italian construction company Todini Costruzioni Generali. In addition to AsiaCredit Bank, the businessman controlled Capital Bank Kazakhstan, which also lost its license in 2021.