Investigations by the country's financial monitoring agency and other state bodies, 55 of the mines closed voluntarily and 51 where forced to shut down, the statement said. The 51 are suspected of tax and customs evasion and placing equipment in special economic zones without permission, according to the statement.
The inspections revealed that some notable political and business figures were involved in crypto mining. According to the statement they included Bolat Nazarbayev, the brother of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev; Alexander Klebanov, the chairman of Central Asian Electric Power Corp., which provides electricity to more than 2 million people, according to its website; and Kairat Itegmenov, listed by Forbes as Kazakhstan's 17th-richest man.
The central Asian country has been dealing with severe electricity shortages since autumn 2021, in part due to an influx of crypto miners from China, but also because of infrastructure failures. The government has decided to crack down on illegal mines to deal with the energy problems.
In total, the financial monitoring agency has opened 25 criminal cases and seized 67,000 machines valued at 100 billion Kazakh tenge ($193 million), according to statement.
In late February, the government said it busted 202 megawatts worth of illegal crypto mines.
