President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev received the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Agency Askhat Zhumagali. The head of the Anti-Corruption Service presented a report on the work of the agency.
Askhat Zhumagali reported to the head of state that in 2023 the agency registered 1,692 corruption offences and exposed 1,324 individuals, of whom 161 were managers at various levels. 1,221 cases were sent to court.
He also reported that since 2022, assets and funds worth 1.02 trillion tenge have been returned to the state and quasi-public sector entities.
"The head of state was briefed on the progress of a number of investigations. Under concluded criminal cases against the 'ROP Operator' LLP, two factories located in the Kostanay and Karaganda regions, with a total value of approximately 20 billion tenge, were transferred to state ownership. As part of the pre-trial investigation concerning K. Satybaldyuly, since the beginning of 2024, an additional approximately 82.6 billion tenge ($185 million) has been ensured to flow into the budget. Furthermore, 942 hectares of land plots in the city of Kosshy, Akmola Region, with a market value of over 13 billion tenge, were returned to the state", the press service of Akorda reported.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Service stated that during monitoring of the public procurement portal, expenditure totalling 41.3 billion tenge was identified. The Agency uncovered manipulations in vehicle registration at specialised service centres (SpetsTsONs). Thanks to the elimination of these gaps, revenues from state duties and payments for vehicle registration flowed into the budget in 2023, increasing to 91.4 billion tenge.
Askhat Zhumagali also stated that this year 18 criminal cases were registered concerning embezzlement in the field of sports financing. He also spoke about the completion of inspections at SK 'Pharmacy' LLP, where corruption risks exist regarding the procurement of medicines and equipment.
"Under the 'Anti-Corruption Volunteering' project, risks of inflating prices for goods and services worth over 2 billion tenge were prevented, and free legal assistance was provided to approximately 10,000 citizens. The issue of introducing a 'money colouring' mechanism through the National Bank's 'Digital Tenge' project has been worked out. Currently, the digital tenge is being piloted in one of the schools in Almaty", the head of the Anti-Corruption Service reported.
Furthermore, Askhat Zhumagali noted that at the end of 2023, Kazakhstan ranked 93rd out of 180 countries in the Transparency International (Corruption Perceptions Index).