I have already had to briefly mention this egregious case in one of the materials, for which it is necessary to blame, first of all, SC Food LLP. The head of this company is the General Director of the “Meat Union of Kazakhstan” Maksut Baktibaev. Our news agency «KazakhZerno.kz» has already talked about the incredible business of the Meat Union more than once, through the prism of the extremely “successful” activities of the former Minister of Agriculture, and now Chairman of the Board of the “Meat Union of Kazakhstan” Asylzhan Mamytbekov. But if earlier it was even said about legal schemes for raising money, now the intermediary company, although we do not want to believe it, does not want to return either livestock or money. This is despite the fact that, as everyone understands, we are not talking about a thousand tenge on loan to pay, but about multimillion-dollar sums.
Let me remind you, the head of the Zamandas farm from Pavlodar region, Balgabay Bakishev, suddenly came up with the idea of using preferential lending under the state program to purchase pedigree cattle from abroad through an intermediary company. Money – sixty-two and a half million Bakishev transferred to the company, and here his misadventures began. He wanted to buy one hundred heads of Hereford cattle, and he expected the supply of cattle last year. However, some strange fuss started, it was offered instead of Herefords – Anguses, then they offered cattle of other breeds from obscure suppliers. But, you see, if I came to the store to buy beer, no one offers me vodka instead at the same price? And here you are. And this is a serious matter – a farmer who does not receive cattle must pay interest on a loan, otherwise there will be penalties. But what to pay for? After all, cattle were never delivered, and they did not give back the money, in any case, in full. As they say, where can the peasant go? Probably in court.
Meanwhile, the matter began to grow into new details: at first they promised to return the money to Bakishev (without any interest, of course) on February 7, the deadline was over, the money was stuck somewhere again, although after appealing to the court they still started returning something. And here it will be useful to explain that, in general, the Zamandas farm is known in the Pavlodar region as a major producer of agricultural products, that is, a fairly strong economy. But he lost a year and loan payments for lost cattle become a penny. Indeed, last year the head of Zamandas farm, Balgabay Bakishev, received a loan under the Sybaka program – the sixty-two and a half million tenge for the purchase of cattle. SC Food LLP was to bring 100 heads of Hereford cattle by the end of November. Since then, Balgabay-aga has been trying to get his money back.
He says, that the choice in favor of SC Food LLP as an importer was not accidental. Largely just because the first head of the company is Maksut Baktibayev, who is also the director general of the Meat Union of Kazakhstan. In addition, according to information received from the Agricultural Department of Pavlodar Region, SC Food LLP is an operator for the import of livestock from Brazil. Until the end of 2019, they planned to receive an aggregate order for four thousand head of cattle – obviously, the company does not exchange small things. However, collecting the required amount did not work, and the delivery was postponed to 2020. And the Zamandas farm began to offer livestock of other breeds. Such a variant of the farmer, who has been working in animal husbandry for several years, did not suit him – the money was paid for a specific type of cattle, and not its analogues and alternatives. Further – more: after a while it became clear to the head of KH that SC Food LLP would not be able to fulfill its promises, therefore Bakishev began to look not for alternative cattle, but for alternative suppliers able to fulfill their contractual promises.
And the peasant found a cattle suitable for himself in Russia, but could not buy it, because the money, as we recall, remained with SC Food LLP. That is, a doubly strange situation: the costs were not incurred by the operator who did not fulfill his promises, but by the peasant farm, regardless of whether the delay was due to objective reasons or not. According to B. Bakishev, he repays debt to the state in accordance with the payment schedule, and this schedule does not change due to delays from third parties. Instead of directing the funds into the business and they began to make a profit, the farmer loses time and pays interest to the state. In the five months that have passed since the conclusion of the contract with SC Food LLP, the money could begin to “work”. Even an elementary deposit during this time would bring more than two million tenge, given the size of the invested funds. This is not to mention more profitable financial instruments or profitability from raising livestock. Speech that the operator will return more funds today does not even go, the peasant will be glad to receive his.
“I don’t want to fight with anyone. Give me my money, I don’t need anything else”, says Balgabay Bakishev.
But so far, according to the farmer, SC Food LLP returned only part of the funds, namely twenty million tenge. The company promised to give the remaining forty-two and a half million tenge by February 7. However, this did not happen. Balgabay Bakishev was going to withdraw his lawsuit if SC Food LLP really returned the debt. Given that the company is not in a hurry to return the money, the farmer is awaiting trial. The hearing is scheduled for February 18.
Maksut Baktibaev, in turn, declined to comment, citing the fact that this is a civil law relationship and they are resolved between two legal entities. And what is a reinforced concrete position, agree. In addition, he added that allegedly the journalists of one of the Kazakh news agencies perverted Maksut Baktibayev’s words on this situation.
Well, even if our agency is not meant, we recall: earlier Maksut Baktibaev served as director of the livestock department in the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2014, he was sentenced to three years’ probation. He was found guilty under article 307 part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan – abuse of power. In addition, he was accused of obstructing legitimate business activities and appropriation or embezzlement of entrusted property of others.
We are not inclined to evaluate a person, especially the head of the Meat Union of Kazakhstan, using some facts of his biography, but the situation with the Pavlodar farmer is already very ugly, agree. In the meantime, the Department of Agriculture of Pavlodar region is looking for a new intermediary operator to organize the purchase of imported livestock abroad.
Vladimir Geger
