Preliminary hearing of ex-PM Serik Akhmetov's case underway
KARAGANDA. KAZINFORM - Preliminary hearing of the case of former Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov and other top officials from Karaganda region has just started at the Karaganda specialized district court, Kazinform correspondent reports.
Serik Akhmetov and 20 more defendants in the case are suspected of embezzlement on a large scale and corruption.
Recall that Akhmetov and fellow defendants' cases were taken to the district criminal court of Karaganda region on July 13, 2015. Earlier it was reported that the Prosecutor's Office of Karaganda region had completed studying materials related to the criminal cases of former Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Akhmetov, former akim (governor) of Karaganda region B. Abdishev, former akim (mayor) of Karaganda city M. Smagulov, and other officials suspected of embezzling extremely large sums of money. The investigators believe that Serik Akhmetov embezzled at least 1 billion tenge and took a multimillion bribe worth $2.4 million.