A resident of Astana earned over 2 billion tenge through illegal matchmaking activities.

“It has been established that a resident of Astana earned criminal income amounting to 2 billion tenge from maintaining a brothel for providing intimate services between 2021 and 2023,” the Financial Monitoring Agency reported.

The parallel financial investigation conducted in the case, as noted by the agency, revealed all the criminal income that flowed into the suspect's accounts through complex legalization schemes using the banking details of relatives and trusted individuals.

“In order to legalize the criminal proceeds, the suspect registered a limited liability partnership in her name and, by purchasing agricultural products with the illegal funds and subsequently reselling them, legalized 88.5 million tenge and generated criminal income totaling 95 million tenge,” the agency clarified.

With the illegally obtained funds, the suspect purchased:

• a commercial space of 500 square meters in a construction project for 350 million tenge;
• 5 two-room apartments with a total area of 329.1 square meters, registered under a hired caregiver for her child, for 92 million tenge;
• two cottages with land plots totaling 784 square meters in Astana for 667.5 million tenge;
• 2 apartments with a total area of 292 square meters and a parking space in elite residential complexes of the capital for 335.4 million tenge;
• an uninhabited premises in Almaty with an area of 46 square meters for 1.1 million tenge;
• a Mercedes Benz G63 vehicle for 114 million tenge.

Additionally, 50 million tenge and expensive jewelry discovered during the search have been seized.

Upon learning of the investigation against her, the suspect, in an attempt to prevent the imposition of seizure and subsequent confiscation, resold 5 two-room apartments for 143.5 million tenge, resulting in an additional criminal income of 51.5 million tenge from their sale.

“By the court's verdict, she was convicted for organizing and maintaining a brothel for prostitution (Article 309 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and for the legalization of money obtained through criminal means (Article 218, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan) to 6 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and funds corresponding to the value of the sold apartments, totaling 1.7 billion tenge,” the statement said.

Thus, as a result of a thorough investigation into the financial aspects of the illegal activities, the authorities established all the property acquired with the criminal proceeds and the income from this property, amounting to over 2 billion tenge, and ensured its confiscation.

An investigation has also been initiated against the hired caregiver who provided false testimony regarding the actual owner of the property obtained through criminal means.