The former editor-in-chief of the publication ORDA Gulnar Bazhkenova is accused under three articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan: illegal entrepreneurship, dissemination of knowingly false information, and embezzlement of entrusted property on an especially large scale.
According to the indictment, the case includes one episode concerning property, eight episodes of publishing inaccurate information, and a separate episode concerning transfers from the editorial accounts, colleagues from Hronika.kz report.
SELLING FLATS WITHOUT REGISTERING AS A SOLE TRADER
According to the prosecution's version, from 2018 to 2025 Bazhkenova purchased 10 flats in Almaty, predominantly in upscale districts. The investigation claims that six of these were subsequently sold at a profit, while a further four remained in her ownership for future sale.
The indictment details four transactions in which the investigation identifies systematic income generation: two flats in the Metropole residential complex were bought for approximately 78.6 million tenge each and sold for 96–96.5 million. Two flats in the Al-Farabi residential complex by BAZIS-A were bought for 59.3 million and 70 million tenge, and sold for 109 million and 106 million.
Regarding these two transactions, the investigation notes that part of the sum in the contracts was formally recorded as payment for renovations - 47.7 million and 34 million tenge, although, according to witness testimony, the actual renovation cost around 16 million and 5.6 million.
The income increase from the transactions, according to the conclusion of the department of state revenues, amounted to 121.2 million tenge, and the estimated individual income tax is 12.12 million tenge. The indictment also states that Bazhkenova was not registered as a sole trader during the period the transactions were carried out.
CHARGES INCLUDE EIGHT ORDA PUBLICATIONS
The second set of charges concerns Article 274 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan («Dissemination of Knowingly False Information»). The audience of ORDA's platforms at the time of the publications, according to the document, exceeded 150 thousand subscribers on the website and in Telegram.
The first episode is an article from 30 May 2024 about the alleged detention of the Deputy Prosecutor of Almaty, Nurlan Auganbayev, on suspicion of receiving a bribe of $600 thousand. The investigation claims that employees of the Prosecutor General's Office told journalists before the publication that the information was unreliable, but the article was published.
The remaining seven episodes are publications about the Karaganda cinema, a flooded office in the Green Tower business centre, the retirement send-off of a fisheries inspector in Zhetysu, oil waste near Tengiz, the case of the son of the ex-Secretary of the Security Council, the business jets of «KazMunaiGas» and the Dostyk - Moyynty railway line.
Regarding two matters - the oil waste and the case of the ex-secretary's son - separate criminal cases were previously opened, both of which were terminated due to the absence of a criminal offence. In relation to the episode concerning «Kazakhstan Temir Zholy», the indictment specifies the damage - 7.8 million tenge, spent on a press tour to refute the publication.
DAMAGE TO THE EDITORIAL OFFICE OF 88.1 MILLION TENGE
A separate episode concerns an accusation under Article 189 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan («Misappropriation or Embezzlement of Entrusted Another Person's Property»).
From November 2024 to November 2025, 83.5 million tenge was transferred from the editorial accounts to sole trader accounts under the guise of payment for services, and a further 4.6 million was paid for the education of Bazhkenova's minor son at a private school. The total amount of the alleged embezzlement is 88.1 million tenge.
WHAT BAZHKENOVA HERSELF SAYS
On 2 July, a judicial hearing began in District Court No. 2 of the Bostandyk District of Almaty regarding the criminal case of Gulnar Bazhkenova. Before the start of the hearing, she commented to journalists on the episode related to the transfer of funds via an individual entrepreneur.
According to her, between 10 and 20 million tenge passed through the sole trader account each month, after which the money was withdrawn in cash and given to the accounting department to pay part of the employees' salaries, and the 40 million tenge found during the search were also intended for paying salaries and fees.
