A resident of Zhetysu aimed to buy a car in China but ended up facing a fine of 4.5 million tenge.

“In accordance with customs legislation, a citizen is allowed to transport no more than 10,000 US dollars. Amounts exceeding this limit are subject to mandatory written declaration. The Panfilov District Court of the Zhetysu region, having reviewed the materials of the administrative case against the offender, did not consider his explanations that half of the sum belonged to two friends, as no evidence of this was presented,” reported the Supreme Court.

The court “viewed critically” the testimonies of the friends who claimed that their dollars were included in the total amount and concluded that they “sought to absolve the offender from administrative liability.”

The court noted that the fact of discovering 47,300 dollars in the backpack is not disputed. No mitigating or aggravating circumstances were established.

According to the National Bank, at the time of the offense, the exchange rate of the US dollar was 484.19 tenge, thus the currency in the backpack was valued at 22.9 million tenge.

“The offender was found guilty under part 3 of Article 551 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. He was imposed an administrative penalty — a fine of 37,300 dollars with confiscation in favor of the state. The 10,000 US dollars, which do not exceed the mandatory declaration limit, were returned to the owner,”

stated in the court's decision.

The ruling has not yet come into legal force.

It was previously reported that the dollar is losing popularity in Kazakhstan. The demand for dollars at Kazakhstan's exchange points has reached its lowest level in the past seven years.