A Kazakh court on March 14 sentenced former Kazakh Economy Minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of bribery and embezzlement.

 Judge Adilkhan Shaikhislamov also barred Bishimbaev from serving in public office for life and directed that all his property should be confiscated. The ex-minister—once something of a ‘golden boy’ and rising star in the Kazakh government—went on trial last November 7 along with 22 other defendants also charged with bribery and embezzlement. The National Anti-corruption Bureau of Kazakhstan accused US-educated Bishimbayev of stealing KZT1bn (€2.5mn at the current exchange rate) from Kazakhstan’s budget. The amount was allegedly laundered via a glass factory construction project, where the money was intended to cover workers’ living expenses.

Some of Bishimbayev’s co-defendants received sentences of between two to seven years on March 14, while others were either fined or released from custody under an amnesty enacted last year.

Bishimbayev pleaded not guilty at the October 31 preliminary hearing, whereas some of his co-defendants pleaded guilty. He did not speak to investigators following his arrest, exercising his right to remain silent.

In December 2016, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev—who was urged by the judge during the sentencing to strip Bishimbayev of his Qurmet (“Honour”) state medal—dismissed Bishimbayev from his post. He was fired “after his activity in the Baiterek holding was challenged”, according to Nazarbayev.

The Baiterek holding is the country’s state-owned national holding management company, launched in 2013 to support the country’s non-oil industry development. Bishimbayev was CEO of Baiterek before his appointment as economy minister in May 2016.

Bishimbayev previously held posts on the board of the Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund and he is a former vice-minister of industry and trade.