Kazakhstan: Eleven churches, pastors' homes raided in Almaty on Good Friday for 'large-scale fraud'

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The criminal investigation follows alleged complaints from individuals "about the fraudulent appropriation by the pastors of the local religious organisation of large financial sums

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Forum 18 News Service
By Felix Corley | March 31, 2016

Police and officers of other security agencies raided 11 church premises and homes of the leaders of New Life Pentecostal Church in Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty on 25 March, the day the Church was commemorating Good Friday.

This was the first the Church knew of a criminal case of alleged large-scale fraud opened against it in May 2015.

The criminal investigation follows alleged complaints from individuals "about the fraudulent appropriation by the pastors of the local religious organisation of large financial sums, as well as moveable and immoveable property, received under the guise of offerings", police claimed in a statement.

"We're not fraudsters," one church member told Forum 18 News Service following the raids. "On the contrary, we help people. We've been working here in Kazakhstan for 26 years."

Asked by Forum 18 if any other criminal cases have been opened against the Church, Adet Doskeyev of the city's Religious Affairs Department responded: "It's a secret."


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