Corruption in Kazakhstan is a big and important problem that poses the main threat to the country's national security, social and economic development, the well-being of society and the people, and affects the functioning of state authorities. At the end of 2014, Kazakhstan ranked 126th out of 175 countries in the world in terms of corruption perception according to Transparency International. In 2015-2016, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Kazakhstan registered over 4 thousand corruption crimes, of which more than 3 thousand were sent to court. Almost half of them are accounted for by the facts of bribery, a quarter - by abuse of office. Every fourth private company in Kazakhstan faces extortion of bribes from government agencies. This indicator exceeds the global average by 8.9%. This result was revealed in 2013 by the World Bank in the global Enterprise survey, which surveyed the owners and top managers of 600 Kazakhstani firms. At the end of 2019, Kazakhstan ranked 113th in the list of 180 countries and scored 34 points out of 100. And in 2018, Transparency International gave Kazakhstan 124th place (which was shared with several other countries) in terms of corruption, 38 points out of 100. Kazakhstan's overall score was then 31 out of 100 possible (while a score below 30 denotes "rampant corruption").

Every second corruption crime in Kazakhstan is a bribe. The number of officials convicted for receiving illegal remuneration has doubled in the country over the past five years. Civil servants of different levels of government are caught taking bribes. The annual potential losses to the economy of Kazakhstan due to corruption are estimated at $ 3.8 billion. This is reported in the first national report of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Corruption scandals involving high-ranking officials in Kazakhstan happen all the time. Loud arrests in the country are no longer surprising. Members of the government and heads of national companies are prosecuted for bribes.

Every fourth private company in Kazakhstan faces extortion of bribes from government agencies. This indicator exceeds the global average by 8.9%. This result was revealed in 2013 by the World Bank in the global Enterprise survey, which surveyed the owners and top managers of 600 Kazakhstani firms.

Since the beginning of 2020, 993 cases of bribery have been registered in Kazakhstan. This is 11.4% more than in the same period in 2019. Of these, 555 cases were related to receiving a bribe, 404 cases were related to giving a bribe, 34 cases were related to mediation. In August 2020, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, decided to ban parole from prison for corrupt officials. He instructed to do this at the legislative level.

History

In the period of the 14-15th centuries in the Kazakh feudal society, responsibility for corruption was not envisaged in what form we perceive it today. Before the accession of Kazakhstan to Russia, corruption manifested itself in legitimate institutional forms, when gifts to representatives of the nobility were like a compulsory feudal duty. So, from ordinary farmers in favor of khans, sultans, biys (kazakh aristocracy), and other representatives of the clan nobility, a tenth of the harvest was regularly levied ushur tax. In addition, there were all kinds of gifts for the nobility and aksakals (the leader of a village).

Since the beginning of the 16th century, the laws of Khan Kasym, the so-called “Kasym Pillar Road”, were in force in Kazakhstan, which was based on the norms of customary law. The norms of the customary law of the Kazakhs were finally codified and supplemented at the end of the 16th century under Khan Tauk in the form of a single set called “Seven Institutions”. Decentralization of power and the absence of a unified state bureaucratic apparatus, the exercise of state administration by the bodies of feudal clan power in the aggregate excluded the possibility, at least formally, of the emergence in Kazakh law of norms providing for liability for bribery, abuse of position, etc., that is, for corruption.

Kazakhstan as a part of the Russian Empire

The next stage in the formation of the legal system in Kazakhstan, which objectively influenced the change in the socio-legal essence of corruption, starts counting from the period of the approval of the Russian colonial policy and the expansion of the borders of the empire. During the reign of Catherine II, the sanctions for bribery were not as severe as under Peter I, although the prevalence of corruption in the government at that time was also great. The Empress paid more attention not to toughening sanctions for committing mercenary abuses in the service but to ensure the principle of inevitability of punishment for their commission. In 1845, the Code on criminal and executive punishments was adopted, which amended and substantially supplemented the legislation on liability for bribery and other forms of corruption, and introduced new norms. For the receipt by an official of state authorities and management, not provided for by law, remuneration associated with a violation of duties in service, he was subject to liability under Art. 402 Code. For this act, the punishment was imprisonment for a term of one to three years or cutting with rods from 70 to 80 blows and return to prison companies for a term of two to five years. In the presence of mitigating circumstances and active repentance, mild punishments were also applied in the form of a severe reprimand or release from office. Thus, corruption is the most widespread phenomenon during the period of large-scale state reforms, we actually have it now, however, it is impossible to eradicate or minimize this phenomenon by punitive measures alone, as they tried to do in the Russian Empire.

In modern Kazakhstan

In the new Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 3, 2014, crimes committed by officials are enshrined in Chapter 15 "Corruption and other criminal offenses against the interests of public service and public administration." The starting point in the process of creating a system for combating corruption and preventing corruption offenses in Kazakhstan should be considered October 21, 1997, when the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev issued the Decree "On the Supreme Disciplinary Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan." An exceptional role in strengthening the fight against corruption was played by the Decree of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On measures to strengthen the fight against corruption, strengthening discipline and order in the activities of state bodies and officials" dated April 14, 2005, by which disciplinary Councils of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, funded from the republican budget. The main goals of the Supreme Disciplinary Council were to strengthen state discipline, increase the responsibility of civil servants, and prevent them from abuse of power and official position. From the first days of its work, the council concluded that corruption poses a particular danger in those areas on which the daily life of Kazakhstanis depends - health care, education, housing, and communal services, lower levels of government bodies since it is the bureaucratic apparatus of these institutions with their actions or inaction undermines the authority of the state in the eyes of the people. Today, to one degree or another in the Republic of Kazakhstan, there is and is developing legislation relating to the fight against corruption, which includes directly the anti-corruption law, various anti-corruption state programs, criminal liability for corruption crimes is provided. Already at the present stage, the foundations of anti-corruption policy have been laid.

Cases

"EXPO-2017" case

In total, 24 people were involved in the high-profile case of embezzlement of budget funds allocated to the national company “Astana Expo-2017”, three of which were managers of the company. The former chairman of the board of the company Talgat Ermegiyayev, the former head of the company's construction department Kazhymurat Usenov and the former managing director of the construction company Sulambek Barkinkhoev. All three were expelled from their posts and arrested in June 2015. According to the investigation, Talgat Ermeguiyayev, in collusion with a group of persons, by embezzlement of budgetary funds, stole a large amount of money, cashing it through a false entrepreneur. The actions of Talgat Ermegiyayev, Kazhumurat Usenov, and Sulambek Barkinkhoev were qualified by the investigation as “appropriation and waste of entrusted other people's property on an especially large scale”. In total, about 10.2 billion tenge (approx. 24 million dollars) was stolen, of which 4.2 billion tenge (approx. 9 million dollars) was appropriated by Talgat Ermegiyayev alone in the form of illegal remuneration - and this is not counting the cost of cars and real estate bought by the former head of the company with budget money. In June 2016, a high-profile corruption trial in the capital of Kazakhstan ended. All suspects were convicted. The main defendant in the case of embezzlement in the national company “Astana EXPO-2017”, Talgat Ermegiyayev, was sentenced to fourteen years in prison with confiscation of property, life deprivation of the right to hold leading positions in government agencies and commercial organizations. Former construction director of the company Sulambek Barkinkhoev was found guilty of embezzlement of entrusted property of others and sentenced to seven years in prison. Two former deputy chairmen of "Astana EXPO-2017" were sentenced under the same article. The court also found the deputy chairman of the board of the company Alisher Pirmetov guilty of embezzlement of the entrusted property of others and sentenced him to five years in prison. Another deputy chairman of the board of the national company, Murat Omarov, was sentenced to eight years in prison under the same article.

Also convicted in this case:

Ayan Adambaev. He was sentenced to seven years in prison with confiscation of property;

Ural Ibadildina. She was also sentenced to seven years of restriction of freedom with confiscation of property;

Shokhan Mataibekov. He was sentenced to five years of restriction of freedom;

Kuanysh Medeuov. He was sentenced to eight years in prison with confiscation of property;

Valery Sin. He was sentenced to eight years in prison with confiscation of property and life imprisonment from office in state bodies;

Madina Davletbaeva. She was sentenced to four years in prison with confiscation of property (the court suspended her sentence up to five years);

Azamat Tumatayev. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The court hearing on this case began in March 2016 in Nur-Sultan. The court sentenced Kazhymurat Usenov to two years in prison in a general regime colony. The case against 12 defendants, in this case, was separated into another proceeding in connection with their “admission of guilt” and the conclusion of a procedural agreement with prosecutors.

Serik Akhmetov's case

The former prime minister and former defense minister Serik Akhmetov have been accused of corruption. The case was considered by the specialized inter-district criminal court in the Karaganda region. The former akim of the Karaganda region Baurzhan Abdishev and the former akim of Karaganda Meiram Smagulov, as well as other former employees of the akimat of the Karaganda region and the city of Karaganda, were also defendants in the case. Serik Akhmetov and several former leaders of the Karaganda region and the city of Karaganda were accused of abuse of office, embezzlement of budget funds, and illegal participation in business activities. Serik Akhmetov is also accused of accepting a bribe on an especially large scale (over two million dollars). Earlier, Serik Akhmetov's lawyer Nikolai Lesnik said in comments to news agencies that his client denied the charges. Serik Akhmetov resigned on October 22, 2014, from the post of defense minister. Several weeks later he was detained and placed under house arrest. This happened after the detention of several former employees of the Akimat of Karaganda and the Karaganda region (Baurzhan Abdishev and Meiram Smagulov were taken into custody in the fall of 2014). Serik Akhmetov was kept under house arrest from November 2014 to February 18, 2015. Serik Akhmetov headed the government before he was appointed defense minister - he served as prime minister from September 2012 to April 2014. Former Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov was sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to hold public office for five years. 21 people were accused of corruption, and they were former high-ranking officials and businessmen of the Karaganda region. Former akim of the Karaganda region, Baurzhan Abdishev, was sentenced to five years in prison with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to hold public office for five years. Most of the defendants, except six people, denied the charges. Those defendants who admitted their guilt fully or partly also counted on an acquittal or at least on a punishment not connected with imprisonment. There were six of them. Four of them - Alzhan Akmoldaev, Gumar Rakhimzhanov, Duman Nurbaev, and Mukhtar Adambekov - agreed with all the accusations against them and declared their repentance. Many defendants in this high-profile case received real prison terms. Former akim of the city of Karaganda Meiram Smagulov and former deputy akim of the Karaganda region Gabit Mukhambetov were sentenced to three years in prison. The former head of the department of land relations of Karaganda, Yernar Daribekov, was sentenced to three years. Former director of the company "Metallurgy and Metalworking" Anatoly Essay was sentenced to seven years in prison. His former deputies Orazaly Aimenbetov and Bolatbek Iskakov were sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Former deputy akim of the city of Karaganda Aydar Telgarin was sentenced to four years in prison with confiscation of property. Former chairman of the board of “KazAgro”, Dulat Aitzhanov, was sentenced to three years in prison. Former manager of SEC “Saryarka”, Yerlan Kisykov, was sentenced to three years in prison. Former chairman of the board of “KazAgroFinance” Gumar Rakhimzhanov, former deputy general director of “Kazakhstan Industrial Corporation” Alzhan Akmoldaev, and businessman from Almaty, Duman Nurbayev confessed they were released from criminal liability. Sales manager in Central Asia of the Spanish company “RufepaTecnoagroSL” Kamilla Piralieva was sentenced to a fine of 4 million 600 thousand tenge (approx. 10 thousand dollars). In 2017, it was reported that Serik Akhmetov had his term reduced under an amnesty timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the country's independence. Serik Akhmetov in July 2016, according to official information, was transferred to "lighter conditions for serving a sentence."

"Ministry of Defense" case

In 2016, the military court of the Akmola garrison authorized the arrest of the Deputy Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan Bagdat Maykeev. A representative of the prosecutor's office said in court that Bagdat Maykeev, was hiding from the investigating authorities and the court, as well as "was obstructing the investigation." Bagdat Maykeev was suspected of receiving a large bribe. It was reported that he was detained by officers of the National Security Committee on February 9, 2014. General Bagdat Maykeev was sentenced in prison on charges of accepting a bribe on an, especially large scale. He denied the charges and was determined to appeal the verdict. On June 27, 2016, the specialized inter-district military court for criminal cases in the city of Almaty sentenced former Deputy Defense Minister General Bagdat Maikeev. He was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of illegal possession of weapons and of accepting a bribe totaling the equivalent of approximately one and a half million dollars. Each of the other three defendants in the case - entrepreneurs Pavel Titarenko, Altynbai Kairbekov, and Oleg Spitsin - was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of bribery. General Bagdat Maykeev denied in court that he had taken a bribe. He only confessed that he had illegally kept a pistol. The general and his lawyers asked the court to acquit him under the article on accepting a bribe. The 67-year-old General Bagdat Maykeev himself has repeatedly made anti-corruption calls. The last time, in October 2013, he called on the commanders to form an "anti-corruption worldview," the legal culture of servicemen. Bagdat Maikeev made his career mainly in the ranks of the police and only after receiving the rank of general, he moved to the highest army circles, which rarely happens. In 2007, when he served as head of the Almaty regional department of internal affairs, he was involved in a corruption scandal. Then the charges did not find official confirmation. Bagdat Maykeev's career went up, and soon he was transferred to the army department. There he climbed the career ladder to the post of deputy minister of defense. Bagdat Maykeev became the fourth Defense Ministry general that was sentenced to prison on corruption charges. Earlier, the deputy commander-in-chief of the air defense forces, major-general Askar Buldeshev, the former head of the main armaments department of the Ministry of Defense, major-general Almaz Assenov, and the Deputy Minister of Defense, lieutenant-general Kazhimurat Maermanov, received long prison terms. Concerning all convicted generals, it was about depriving them of their highest military rank and state awards. The last time General Maikeev received a state award - the Order of Dank, second degree - in December 2013. Two months later, he was detained at his home in Nur-Sultan on suspicion of accepting a bribe on an, especially large scale. The release of the former Deputy Defense Minister Bagdat Maykeev became known six months after his release from prison. He was released due to illness. Such releases from prison are rare. From the content of this decision, it follows that soon after Maykeev was convoyed to the place of serving his sentence, he was sent to a prison hospital, the so-called sanitary town, on the territory of the strict regime colony OV-156/15 in the city of Semey, East Kazakhstan region. After some time, the prisoner Bagdat Maykeev filed a petition with the Semey court to be released from punishment due to illness. The refusal of the court dated December 30, 2014, Bagdat Maikeev and his lawyer Daniyar Kanafin appealed to the Court of Appeal of the East Kazakhstan region, which on February 4, 2015, decided to satisfy their complaint. In the complaint, they pointed out that the prisoner Maikeev had been suffering from an intractable, severe type of cancer for a long time and, to avoid the consequences of death, he needed highly qualified specialized medical care, the provision of which was impossible in conditions of serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty, as well as within Kazakhstan. As a result, the Court of Appeal of the East Kazakhstan region granted the petition of the convicted Bagdat Maykeev and ordered: “to release him due to illness”. Bagdat Maykeev was released by the decision of the Judicial Panel of Appeals for Criminal Cases of the East Kazakhstan Regional Court dated February 4, 2015, in connection with an illness (cancer).

"Ministry of Agriculture" case

In 2013, the former vice-minister of agriculture of Kazakhstan, Muslim Umiryaev, accused of corruption, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. According to the investigation and prosecution, Muslim Umiryaev twice received large bribes for lobbying the interests of a private entrepreneur in a tender for the purchase of the FMD vaccine. Muslim Umiryaev was deprived of the right to hold positions in the civil service and local self-government bodies for 7 years. The judge also ruled that the evidence -100 thousand dollars, which appeared in the case as a bribe, must be turned into state revenue. Muslim Umiryaev worked as vice minister of agriculture for two years. In January 2017, Muslim Umiryaev was released under amnesty.

"Ministry of Health" case

On September 21, 2010, the former Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Jaqsylyq Dosqaliev, during a visiting collegium of the ministry in the North Kazakhstan region, arranged an unscheduled check on his subordinates and was dissatisfied with their knowledge. On the same day, the financial police opened a criminal case against the minister for abuse of office. On September 25, 2010, Jaqsylyq Dosqaliev was detained by employees of the financial police of Kazakhstan. Jaqsylyq Dosqaliev was accused of abuse of power and abuse of office, accepting bribes on an especially large scale, and embezzling budget funds. On August 5, 2011, he was sentenced to 7 years in a strict regime colony with confiscation of property. While in prison, Jaqsylyq Dosqaliev wrote a petition to the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan with a petition for clemency. The appeal was supported. In January 2012, the decree of the first president of Kazakhstan was issued on pardoning Jaqsylyq Dosqaliev by reducing the sentence from 7 to 2 years. And after that, Jaqsylyq Dosqaliev filed a petition for parole. On February 29, 2012, the Nur-Sultan City Court ruled on parole from places of detention; On March 16, 2012, after the expiration of the time limit for filing appeals from the supervisory authorities, the former minister was released. On August 3, 2012, despite his previous convictions, the ex-minister was re-employed in the civil service, began to work as a research fellow at the National Scientific Medical Center - the head of the organ transplant center. Since 2013, Jaqsylyq Dosqaliev has been working as a head at the Republican Transplant Center.

The case of the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund

In 2017, it was announced that the investigation into the alleged embezzlement in the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF) was completed. The arrest on suspicion of corruption of the former chairman of the fund Ruslan Erdenayev, deputy chairman Dabyr Medetbekov, former head of the risk department Musa Bakhtov and senior employees of two private mining companies became known at the beginning of the year. The prosecutor's office of the city of Almaty reports that, based on the results of the investigation, on October 18, 2017, a criminal case was sent to the specialized interdistrict criminal court of the city of Almaty on charges of embezzlement against Ruslan Erdenayev and Musa Bakhtov and other defendants in the case, including the founder of the “BuzgulAurum” company, Bakhytzhan Kenzhebaev. The former head of the fund Ruslan Erdenayev, according to the prosecutor's office, is also accused of taking a bribe, director of "BuzgulAurum" Azat Nayzagarin - of "complicity in giving a bribe." Talgas Turtaev, deputy director of “MegaTransAsia”, is accused of “mediating in bribery”. According to the investigation, the officials of the UAPF received a large bribe from the heads of the companies for concluding a deal on the acquisition of the “BuzgulAurum” bonds by the UAPF, as a result of which, as the investigation claims, the state suffered damage for 5 billion tenge (approx. 11 million dollars). According to the investigation, the Department of Risks for Investing in “BuzgulAurum” bonds previously recommended refraining from investing in “BuzgulAurum” bonds of the year “due to the presence of risks”. Mandatory pension contributions of working Kazakhstani people who have not reached retirement age flock to the UAPF. Investment audits of the fund's assets were launched on December 21, 2016. A court in Almaty found the former chairman of the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF) Ruslan Erdenayev guilty of “embezzlement” and “bribe-taking” and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. The decision was announced on April 18, 2018. The court also banned Ruslan Erdenayev from working in the civil service for life. Deputy Chairman Dabyr Medetbekov was sentenced to 11 years in prison on similar charges. The same terms of imprisonment for these accused were requested by the prosecutor. The former head of the risk department, Musa Bakhtov, was found guilty of “complicity in theft”. The court sentenced him to eight years in prison with a ban on holding leadership positions in commercial organizations for 10 years. The founder of "BuzgulAurum" was found guilty of "embezzlement" and sentenced to eight years in prison with a ban on holding leading positions in commercial organizations for 10 years. The director of this company, Azat Nayzagarin, was sentenced to seven years in prison. The court found him guilty of “embezzlement” and “complicity in giving a bribe”. The director of the “MegaTransAsia” company Talgas Turtaev, charged with “complicity in bribery,” was released from the main sentence of imprisonment for one year after he was amnestied.

Sayat Shayakhmetov's case

In November 2013, the investigation of the criminal case was completed, and Sayat Shayakhmetov was charged with abuse of office during the construction of an educational institution. At the same time, the prosecution claims that the state suffered damage for 1.1 billion tenge (approx. 2.5 million dollars) allocated for the construction of a training center in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The general director of the “Directorate of Education and Science Objects under Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan” Alexander Pak, the former general director of the “ZAK Service” company Roman Kireev and another former director of the same company, Alexei Tutubalin, were charged with embezzlement of budget funds. However, already in February 2014, the criminal case was sent for additional investigation. Sayat Shayakhmetov's lawyer Nurlan Beisekeyev informed about it. But he did not name the details and the reason why the prosecutor's office sent the case for additional investigation. The trial began on July 16, 2014, but already on July 21, the defendant Sayat Shayakhmetov asked for the trial to be open. And in September 2014, the case again, for an unspecified reason, was sent for additional investigation. Of course, at the request of the lawyers. In September 2015, the court case against Sayat Shayakhmetov was sent for a comprehensive additional examination, since then there has been no news. And only on March 15, 2017, the trial of Shayakhmetov was resumed. The proceedings lasted more than four years. On May 2, 2017, a court in Nur-Sultan sentenced former Deputy Minister of Education and Science Sayat Shayakhmetov to seven years in prison on charges of embezzlement. The same term was given to another person involved in this case - the former head of the directorate of facilities under construction, Alexander Pak. It was announced on May 20, 2013, that Sayat Shayakhmetov was under house arrest in connection with the investigation of the alleged waste of budget funds.

General Dzhulamanov's case

The former director of the border service of the National Security Committee, former lieutenant-general Nurlan Dzhulamanov, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on March 6, 2015, on charges of accepting bribes on an especially large scale, as well as creating and leading an organized criminal group. Another defendant in the case of "General Dzhulamanov", the former commander of military unit 2458, Kairat Balmagambetov, was found guilty of creating and leading an organized criminal group, as well as accepting a bribe on an, especially large scale. However, he was released from criminal liability under Article 65 of the Criminal Code on the so-called active repentance and assistance to the investigation. Unlike former General Nurlan Dzhulamanov, who was under arrest and held in a pre-trial detention center from the moment of his arrest, Kairat Balmagambetov was under house arrest. According to the prosecution, from the summer of 2013 to October 27, 2014, an organized group created and led by the former director of the border service of the National Security Committee, Nurlan Dzhulamanov, received more than 173 million tenge (approx. 401 thousand dollars) and 436 thousand dollars as bribes. Former lieutenant general Nurlan Dzhulamanov headed the border service of the National Security Committee for about 22 months and was arrested on October 27, 2014.

Anti-corruption efforts

Kazakhstan's history of the fight against corruption in the country can be conditionally divided into two main stages, which to one degree or another characterize the evolution of anti-corruption activities in Kazakhstan. The first stage considers the period from 1998 to 2015, when the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 2, 1998, No. 267-I "On the fight against corruption" was in force in the country. During this period of time, special attention was directed to measures to eliminate conditions conducive to the commission of everyday corruption, which citizens most often encounter when receiving public services at the local level. Most of all, Kazakhstanis faced the facts of corruption while obtaining various certificates and accelerating the receipt of public services in educational and medical institutions, as well as in law enforcement agencies. To prevent bribery among civil servants and eliminate human contacts, the country began to actively introduce the principles of "one window", where any citizen could get the service he needed in a matter of minutes. After the lapse of time, other types of public services were also transferred to the online format within the framework of the "e-government" program. With the beginning of the second stage (from 2015 to the present day), the basic principles and methods of combating corruption in Kazakhstan were revised, the main regulatory document of which was the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated November 18, 2015, No. 410-V "On Combating Corruption". The new law made it possible to move from a strategy of struggle, which inevitably leads to the domination of repressive methods and punitive measures, to a comprehensive strategy to eliminate the causes and conditions of corruption. The main object of confrontation remains everyday corruption among the population, but at the same time, a start was made to counteract business (business) corruption in Kazakhstan: facts of bribery, bribery, and kickbacks by officials at the time of public procurement. It should be noted that previously the functions of identifying, suppressing, and preventing corruption offenses were held accountable within their competence to the prosecutor's office, national security, internal affairs, state revenues, military police, anti-corruption service, border service of the National Security Committee. Whereas, with the entry into force of the new Law, a specialized authorized body, the anti-corruption service, was attributed to the main subject of anti-corruption. At present, the Anti-Corruption Agency (hereinafter the Agency), which is directly subordinate and accountable to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, deals with the facts of bribery. Subdivisions of the Agency - ANTIKOR - are represented in almost all regional centers of the country. Today, the key priorities of the Agency are such concepts as integrity, partnerships, and prevention. Such changes will have to contribute, firstly, to rid the state and society of the criminological aspect of corruption, and secondly, to the formation of an anti-corruption culture and the widespread involvement of citizens in combating corruption in the country.

Corruption in local government

The first president of Kazakhstan has been repeatedly accused of corruption. And his family was embroiled in a series of money laundering, bribery, and murder investigations by Western governments. Among these investigations is the so-called Kazakhgate, as a result of which the US Department of Justice did not confirm the guilt of the Nazarbayev family and closed the case in August 2010. The grandson of the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Aisultan Nazarbayev, asked the British authorities for political asylum in February 2020 and said that he had data on corruption in Russia and Kazakhstan. After which, on August 16, 2020, he died, presumably due to cardiac arrest in London.

Also, reports of the detention of officials suspected of corruption offenses and the initiatives of government agencies to combat corruption in Kazakhstan appear quite often.