ALMATY. Feb 11 (Interfax) - Talgat Yesetov, the head of the Border Guard Service Academy of the Kazakh National Security Committee, who has recently committed suicide, could have been involved in a corruption scandal involving officials from the Ukrainian company Ukrspetsexport.
The Kazakh newspaper Megapolis reported on Monday that the investigators investigating Yesetov's suicide believe that he could have conducted negotiations with Ukrspetsexport on the maintenance of the An-72 plane that crashed near Shymkent on December 25, 2012, when he was deputy director of the Border Guard Service.
"There is information that the plane was only repaired 'on paper.' The representatives of the Ukrainian company detained in Astana have already testified on this complex case," the paper reported.
Yesetov was probably "accused of being indirectly responsible for the death of 27 people," the paper reported.
According to earlier reports, the An-72 plane belonging to the Kazakh National Security Committee crashed near Shymkent on December 25, 2012. The plane was carrying 27 people, including Turganbek Stambekov, acting director of the Kazakh Border Guard Service, and top officials from the regional border guard department Ontustik. All of them were killed in the crash.
The Kazakh Prosecutor General's Office determined that the crash was caused by problems with the plane's equipment, the captain's errors and difficult weather conditions.
Yesetov committed suicide in his office on January 31.
According to earlier reports, two high-ranking Ukrspetsexport officials were detained in Kazakhstan on January 26 and were later arrested. The sources said the Ukrspetsexport officials were detained on suspicion of giving a bribe to a Kazakh official for assistance in the signing of export contracts.