Archive · 2023 · From the print edition of Wednesday 21 June 2023, Vol. 31, No. 9,477
CourtsBreeder jailed over Akyel pedigree fraud
The owner of the Kyzyl-Jyldyz stud was sentenced to four years for substituting DNA samples for foals registered in the National Akyel Studbook.
TALAS — The Talas District Court yesterday sentenced Kanat Ormonbekov, owner of the private Kyzyl-Jyldyz stud near Talas, to four years in prison for fraud and the forgery of veterinary documents.
The court found that Ormonbekov submitted samples from other horses in place of those of 14 foals registered between 2017 and 2021, with the help of Aizada Sydykbekova, a technician at the Talas Veterinary Research Center. Sydykbekova received a two-year suspended sentence.
The case came to light in March last year, when a retest commissioned by a US buyer showed that a palomino Akyel colt did not match its registered sire. The Akyel Equine Logistics & Breeding Syndicate, which keeps the studbook, struck 31 horses from it, and exports to the United States were suspended for four months.
Independent breeders who attended the hearings asked why the syndicate’s own farms had not been audited by an outside body. The syndicate’s managing director, Mirlan Toktarov, has said an internal review found nothing wrong at its farms. Ormonbekov’s lawyer said he would appeal.