ASTANA. Dec 5 (Interfax) - An Astana military tribunal has sentenced Maj. Gen. Askar Buldeshev, former deputy commander of Kazakhstan's Air Defense Force, to eight years and six months in prison and has stripped him of his military rank and awards, an Interfax correspondent reported.
Buldeshev was detained by officers of the Kazakh National Security Committee on suspicion of being involved in fraud with a contract on military hardware maintenance. Buldeshev held the post of director of the Defense Ministry's Main Inspectorate at the time of his detention.
A criminal investigation was opened against Buldeshev on the counts of abuse of power with the aim of making profit (Part 2 of Article 380-1 of the Kazakh Penal Code).