In 2025, young Kazakh woman Perizat Kairat was convicted of embezzling charitable funds ($6.6 million) and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Since 2021, she had positioned herself as a philanthropist and public figure, raising large sums, particularly for Palestinians and victims of massive floods in northern Kazakhstan. However, it emerged that all the collected money was spent by Perizat Kairat on purchasing elite real estate, cars, expensive jewelry, and travel. But during the trial, an interesting aspect also came to light — the fraudster’s connection to the Amanat party.
On July 25, 2025, in Astana, the trial concluded against Perizat Kairat and her mother Gani Alashbayeva: for fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering of funds collected for charitable purposes, they were sentenced to 10 and 7 years in prison respectively, with confiscation of property.
The total amount of embezzled funds: 3.5 billion tenge (6.6 million dollars), most of which were donations to help residents of northern Kazakhstan affected by massive floods in spring 2024.
According to authorities, these were the largest floods in 80 years, flooding more than 16 thousand settlements. Amid public discontent, Perizat Kairat appeared on social media with sharp criticism of officials and personally President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, accusing them of unpreparedness for the floods and corruption. It was this post by Perizat Kairat that made her a blogger and public figure known throughout Kazakhstan. Later, she deleted her resonant publication but announced a collection of charitable funds for flood victims — since 2021, the girl had her own charitable fund Biz Birgemiz Qazaqstan (from Kazakh: “We Are Together Kazakhstan”).
In support of this charitable campaign, popular Kazakh bloggers with millions of followers — Karina Oksukpayeva, Madina Mamadaliyeva, Birzhan Ashim, Natalia Sinyak, and others — spoke out. Perizat Kairat successfully raised donations through social networks and public events. In total, 1.9 billion tenge was collected.
But in 2023-2024, inconsistencies began to surface: complaints from beneficiaries, lack of reporting, strange contracts. The Agency for Financial Monitoring opened a criminal case, uncovering fictitious activities and the transfer of funds to personal accounts.
As the investigation found, the charitable funds were misappropriated by P. Kairat and G. Alashbayeva and spent on purchasing elite real estate, cars, jewelry, and expensive items.
Perizat Kairat’s Connection to the Amanat Party
In November 2018, the Kazakh charitable fund Halyk launched the online platform birgemiz.kz for donations. The platform gained popularity during the coronavirus pandemic — Kazakhstanis donated money to fight the infection under the slogan “Біз біргеміз” (from Kazakh: “We Are Together”).
A few years later, in June 2021, Perizat Kairat registered a charitable fund with a similar name in Astana — Biz Birgemiz Qazaqstan. The organization positioned itself as a nationwide volunteer movement involving more than 15 thousand people.
During the trial against Kairat, it became known that the volunteer movement was initiated by the deputy chairman of the ruling party Nur Otan (new name — Amanat), Bauyrzhan Baibek. According to the party’s plan, volunteer centers were to be opened in each region for “rapid response.”
The investigation claims that when creating the fund Biz Birgemiz Qazaqstan, the signatures of nine founders were forged, and the fund itself was registered at the address of a PlayStation club in Astana.
Kairat herself insists that the fund is directly connected to Baibek and the Amanat party. Before questioning the victims, she requested that the former deputy chairman of the party, Bauyrzhan Baibek, be summoned to court to give testimony.
“I allegedly created the fund together with my mother and forged signatures, while it was created under the Nur Otan party under the leadership of Bauyrzhan Baibek. All the founders, except me, are former and current party employees,” said Kairat. That is, Kairat directly stated that the fund Biz Birgemiz Qazaqstan was created under the Nur Otan party (Amanat).
But B. Baibek was never summoned to court for testimony and did not comment on the connection with the charitable fund in any way. The 51-year-old politician was previously deputy head of the administration of the first president Nursultan Nazarbayev, then appointed as first deputy chairman of the Nur Otan party. He held this position twice in different periods — his second term in this post was from June 2019 to January 2022.
Charity for Palestinians and the Unbuilt Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled
Since 2022, Kairat and the fund Biz Birgemiz Qazaqstan have conducted several major charitable campaigns, including aid for victims of the earthquake in Turkey and for Palestinians.
The fund collected more than 566 million tenge (over 1 million dollars) for Gaza residents, of which only 7.4 million (13 thousand dollars) were transferred for the intended purpose. Most of the funds, according to the investigation, were spent on purchasing a Mercedes-Benz EQE car and an apartment in an elite residential complex in Astana.
Prosecutor Arman Kiziken said at the trial that Kairat did not admit guilt in this episode and testified that she exported the money in cash to Palestinian territories.
According to her, Kairat feared that transferring money via bank transfers could be interpreted as financing a military conflict. This is how Kairat tried to explain her numerous trips abroad. At the same time, as the investigation materials show, these trips were accompanied by expensive purchases in the United Arab Emirates.
Another episode of the case — opening a rehabilitation center in Kazakhstan for children with disabilities. To build the center in 2021, Kairat organized a charitable auction and collected more than 21 million tenge (390 thousand dollars) — a significant part, the investigation claims, the accused spent on her own needs, for example, on a trip to Dubai, hotel stays, and luxury clothing purchases. The rehabilitation center was never built.
“Well, what can I say, the best year”
The trial of Perizat Kairat and her mother Gani Alashbayeva took place in July 2025 in closed mode, as the case materials contain confidential data, including documents protected by banking secrecy.
Kazakh media filed a complaint against the judge’s actions, accusing him of “creating obstacles to professional activity” — because journalists were not informed about the start of the hearings and were not allowed into the courtroom, banning live broadcasts. The session with the defendants’ last word was also held in closed mode, without allowing journalists to attend and cover the position of Kairat and her mother.
Earlier, during the debates, both accused did not admit guilt on any of the episodes. Alashbayeva refused to give testimony in court altogether.
The prosecution believes that the guilt of both women is proven. During the hearings, prosecutors pointed to a video found on Kairat’s phone. The video shows a suitcase packed with 20-thousand tenge bills. A voice off-camera notes: “Well, what can I say, the best year. Аллаға шүкір (from Kazakh — ‘thank God’).” The prosecutors did not specify the filming date or the amount of money in the suitcase.
Over the course of her activities, the investigation calculated, Kairat and her mother purchased three apartments in elite residential complexes in Astana for 323 million tenge (600 thousand dollars), a house in a cottage town worth 150 million tenge (278 thousand dollars), three premium cars for 170 million (315 thousand dollars), as well as branded clothing, accessories, and jewelry for 158 million tenge (294 thousand dollars).
The court confiscated property acquired by Perizat Kairat and her mother with embezzled money:
- Private house in the Vela Village cottage town;
- Apartments in residential complexes Akbulak Riviera, Sensata Plaza, Highvill Ishim Gold, “Көк Жайлау” along with parking spaces;
- Cars: Mercedes-Benz S450 2024, Lexus LX 600 2024, Mercedes-Benz EQE 500 4 matic 2023, Haval H6 GT 2024;
- 100% share in the authorized capital of LLP “Rebel Flowers”;
- Over 97 million tenge and 22 thousand dollars.
On September 24, 2025, the criminal court collegium of Astana upheld the first-instance sentence unchanged.
Source: bbc.com
Collage: Orda.kz
