KZBlog

It seems I have been misreporting the affair surrounding Zhaksylyk Doskaliev. The Financial Police initially came to hold him for questioning, not to arrest him. As I reported yesterday, as of yet the Astana Court sees no grounds to issue an arrest warrant for the Minister of Health, and no has tried to arrest him as of yet. However, it has been reported that the Financial Police came to hold him last Saturday (21 of September) because Doskaliev had an upcoming trip to Canada to study the single-payer system and there was some concern that he might not return to Kazakhstan if he knew that he was under investigation.

Murat Zhumabay of the Agency for the Fight Against Corruption and Financial Crimes, summed up the matter of the investigation [RU]:

The investigation has established that in 2003, the Kazakh State Medical Academy was allotted a plot of land with a total area of 2.5 hectares. As rector of the Academy in 2005 and 2006, Doskaliev acting in his own interests for personal material gain and in the interests of his associate, Mr. Kenzhina, director of Astana IPA, and in violation of applicable law, signed a contract for the construction of two apartment complexes in those plots,…With a general power of attorney from Doskaliev, Kenzhin sold apartments in newly built houses at market value to individuals unrelated to the Academy, and made a profit of 1.4 billion tenge, even though the land was allocated to the Medical University of Astana for the construction of housing for teachers. For gifting this land, Doskaliev also received two apartments as illegal remuneration, given to Doskaliev’s relatives, as well as a cottage in Karaotkel [a neighborhood in Astana], which was kept by Doskaliev

Regarding his health, there are some slightly disturbing photos of him in the hospital, which zakon.kz claims they received on a disk in a plain envelope dropped off at their offices. Who took them and for what reason is unknown. Of course many people are speculating that the photos are fakes. But then no one has a clear answer for who faked them and why they would do that. However apparently he was scheduled for heart surgery yesterday but they had to call it off because he developed problems breathing making surgery impossible.

Another rumor, which I have yet to see confirmed anywhere, is that the The Financial Police put a secret camera in his hospital room and there is a recording of Doskaliev talking to a nurse, proving allegedly showing that he is faking his illness. Again, so far this seems to be no more than a rumor. The Financial Police are apparently no longer guarding him since he is not under arrest.