Prison sentence for former KazAtomProm head

15 March 2010

Moukhtar Dzhakishev, the former president of Kazakh national nuclear company KazAtomProm, has been found guilty by a court in Astana of misappropriation and bribery, according to an Interfax report. "A prosecutor asked for 14 years in prison from the court. The court agreed and imposed this very punishment on him, that is, 14 years in a high security penitentiary, and has also deprived him of the right to occupy government positions for seven years," said Nurlan Beisekeyev, Dzhakishev's attorney. The court also ruled that Dzhakishev should be stripped of the Order of Kurmet, a state award. Beisekeyev said that Dzhakishev would appeal the sentence. The court also sentenced Talgat Kystaubayev, Dzhakishev's bodyguard, to five years in prison and stripped him of his military rank of major. Dzhakishev was arrested in May 2009 and charged with embezzling state shares in uranium mines in collusion with Moukhtar Ablyazov, the former chairman of BTA, one of Kazakhstan's top banks. Kazakh law enforcers have since added new accusations, including money-laundering and bribe-taking. Seven other KazAtomProm officials have also been charged with corruption. Dzhakishev has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.