Over the past six months, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has added two Kazakh enterprises to its blacklist of entities that the bank will not do business with.
One of the companies is Astana’s KS-Group LLP, which produces railway machinery and equipment. The company has been barred until April 2025 due to alleged fraudulent activities. The other enterprise, whose ban runs until December 2026, is Agidel-As LLP, which is also suspected of fraud. The company’s website mentions its involvement in large water-supply projects, construction of heating networks and other engineering projects.
KS-Group and Agidel-As are also blacklisted by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
Several other entities and individuals from Kazakhstan have been added to another of EBRD’s blacklists, entitled ‘Sanctions Based on Third-Party Findings’. Among them are the companies A3 Commerce and AltocomAsia, to which in addition to fraud, theft is also alleged.
Kazakh companies that appear on EBRD’s blacklists reflect the negative side of the business environment in the country. However, it does also indicate that the country’s law enforcement agencies are actively fighting fraud.
