The Esil district court of Nur-Sultan has announced its final decision on Berik Sharipov, a former head of SK Pharmacy. He was accused of violating two Criminal Code articles.
On the first accusation in misuse of his power he has been recognized not guilty; regarding the second claim, the court found him guilty of illegal possession of a weapon. He was obliged to pay a fee of $6.600 and then released out of custody.
The former head of SK Pharmacy Berik Sharipov was fired on July 10 last year due to severe criticism by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who accused health system officials of neglecting their duties.
«A full-scale investigation is needed; we have to find out who is guilty in this situation and fire them. All the executives of Medical Insurance Fund and SK Pharmacy should be fired immediately,» the president stated last July.
The background for this wave of criticism was a shortage of medicines. In June 2020 Kazakhstanis started to scoop up various medicines, especially febrifuge agents such as paracetamol, antibiotics, and antiviral drugs because of a rise in COVID-19 cases and they couldn’t find them in drugstores. However, all these medicines could be found on the black market and their prices were much higher.
