Kazakhstan prevents 279B tenge in unjustified spending
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Monday received Zhanat Elimanov, Chairman of the Financial Monitoring Agency, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the Akorda press service.
The Head of State was briefed on the agency's results in the first half of 2026 and the objectives for the coming period.
Zhanat Elimanov said that over six months, investigations into 496 criminal cases were completed, with 22.6 billion tenge in damages recovered for victims. Authorities neutralized seven criminal groups, including four transnational networks, and dismantled 44 illegal cash-out networks handling over 176 billion tenge.
Furthermore, 12 shadow crypto-exchangers used to launder proceeds from drug trafficking and fraud were terminated. The agency uncovered 36 money mule cells, whose accounts were used to process 113 billion tenge in transactions.
According to him, authorities broke up the first known case in the CIS of criminals using special equipment to impersonate mobile operators and send mass phishing texts to steal personal data.
The President was also briefed on budget spending oversight. The agency prevented unjustified spending on 52 infrastructure projects totaling 279 billion tenge.
Additionally, the agency identified risks of misappropriating 10 billion tenge in state funds during the commercialization of scientific research. Authorities also uncovered a scheme involving the fictitious enrollment of 140,000 citizens in private medical organizations to illegally obtain funding from the Social Health Insurance Fund.
As part of preventive work, the agency blocked access to 9,000 websites and accounts linked to illegal gambling. 2,300 fraudulent internet resources and 25 group chats with a combined audience of over 35,000 people were shut down.
Financial literacy programs reached over 245,000 citizens.
Elimanov also said that owing to legislative improvements in financial monitoring, Kazakhstan has strengthened its positions on four key FATF recommendations.
Following the meeting, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev issued a series of specific directives on key areas of the agency's work.
As written earlier, President Tokayev set tasks for Ulytau region’s sustainable growth.
