A new twist in the case of former culture minister Arystanbek Mukhamediuly — he is suspected of involvement in the alienation of the building of the republican school of higher sporting excellence for aquatic and applied sports in Almaty, with damage to the state of more than two billion tenge, VRKNews.kz reports.
“The Anti-Corruption Service is investigating officials of the Ministry of Culture and Sports suspected of committing a crime under Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan, ‘Abuse of official powers’, who in 2019 alienated, at an understated price, the building of the ‘Republican School of Higher Sporting Excellence for Aquatic and Applied Sports’ in favour of a legal entity affiliated with ex-minister Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, causing the state damage of more than 2.2 billion tenge,” the Telegram channel “Insider” says.
The Anti-Corruption Service confirmed this information, though it was cautious and did not state the amount of damage alleged. It remains only to say a little about the sports school itself.
Facilities of the sports school in Almaty
The Republican School of Higher Sporting Excellence for Aquatic and Applied Sports is in Almaty, at 262/2 Zhansugurov Street.
Sports in which training is carried out at this sports school: water polo, freestyle wrestling, judo, Greco-Roman wrestling, kayaking, equestrian sport, athletics, sailing, swimming, pistol and rifle shooting, synchronised swimming, modern pentathlon, clay-target shooting, taekwondo, fencing
The main purpose of the Republican School of Higher Sporting Excellence for Aquatic and Applied Sports is to provide and create conditions for high-quality training of athletes, their competitiveness on the international stage, and successful performance at the Olympic Games, the World and Asian Championships, the Asian Games and other international competitions.
Training facilities of the sports school:
- An indoor riding hall with a total area of 1,008 sq. m and a pre-hall of 576 sq. m.
- A games hall with LaserRun installations
- A fencing hall with a total area of 608.2 sq. m (9 fencing lanes, hit-recording apparatus, an electronic scoreboard counting hits)
- A shooting range and running track with LaserRun installations
- Horse riding (a sports ground for hire and training)
- A show-jumping field
- 5 stables (for 103 horses)
- A sports hall of 1,113.6 sq. m.
The story of the arrest of Arystanbek Mukhamediuly
In May 2022 it became known that Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, who at that time was director of the National Museum of Kazakhstan, had been taken into custody.
At present the Anti-Corruption Service for the city of Nur-Sultan is conducting a pre-trial investigation of officials of the National Museum and other persons on signs of embezzlement of budget funds totalling 146 million tenge under a public procurement contract for the international exhibition “Procession of the Golden Man through the Museums of the World”.
Now yet another charge is being added to the case of the ex-minister of culture.
Arystanbek Mukhamediuly himself more than a month ago recorded a video address to head of state Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and published it on social media pages.
“Some people are still trying to put obstacles in my way. A few years ago funds allocated for the filming of the film ‘Phoenix’ were stolen, in which [the name of a well-known actor and producer is given] was involved. (…) He still regards me as an enemy, makes various statements and tirelessly complains about me to various bodies,” the ex-minister shared his view of what is happening.
That was on 16 May. Since then there has been no activity on his Facebook and Instagram accounts.
