ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau is seeking to interrogate the former Akim (mayor) of Almaty and governor of the East Kazakhstan region Viktor Khrapunov and his wife Leila Khrapunova and others in relation to a corruption investigation.
The bureau has found evidence it believes implicates these individuals in criminal acts, including the creation and management of an organised criminal group, abuse of official powers, theft of state property and budgetary funds by misappropriation and fraud, receipt of bribes and their subsequent legalisation.
The individuals the bureau seeks to question are out of the country which is why the Anti-Corruption Bureau published in the media a notice summoning the suspects for interrogation by Oct. 17. The notice was published in Kazakh media and media in Switzerland which is where they are believed to be residing after fleeing Kazakhstan several years ago.
According to the bureau, the suspects have a right to counsel and to request counsel. If no counsel is presented or requested, representation will be provided for them by the agency conducting the investigation.
