Shymkent, 28 October. The Shymkent department of the National Security Committee is investigating a criminal case over the embezzlement of budget funds allocated to reduce the cost of dairy products and develop dairy processing: violations worth 4.4 billion tenge were found in summer 2026 by the internal state audit department and the committee's city department, on the basis of audit report No. 43 of 9 July 2026, Polites News reports.
The case was opened under Part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code, misappropriation or embezzlement of entrusted property on an especially large scale. According to the outlet, officials of the city agriculture department and the heads of 12 subsidy recipients are under scrutiny; its sources report new searches in recent days, including of civil servants. The National Security Committee has not officially commented on the investigation.
This is not the first case involving the same subsidies. According to Polites News, a similar case with damage of 1.2 billion tenge was previously investigated by the local economic investigations department but was closed. Participants then challenged the legality of the audit in court, and on 16 September 2026 the Court of Cassation for administrative cases upheld the audit report. According to the figures cited by the Egovpress channel, the violations covered almost half of the subsidies: 4.4 billion out of 9.3 billion tenge.
What it means: Money allocated to support Shymkent's dairy sector has become the subject of a criminal investigation by the National Security Committee: auditors found violations covering almost half the subsidies, and a court has already upheld their findings.
What we know now: The case is being investigated by the committee's Shymkent department; no charges against specific individuals have been made public, and only a court can establish anyone's guilt.
Background: Subsidies to reduce the cost of dairy products are one of the state's livestock support measures: part of the costs of milk producers and processors is reimbursed from the budget.
