The results of the state audit of the effectiveness of the pension and social security systems for citizens were discussed at a meeting of the Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) chaired by Alikhan Smailov.
According to the press service of the department, the number of recipients of pensions and social benefits, as well as the total volume of payments, is growing annually in the country. Over the past five years, the average solidarity pension has increased by 37%, the average basic pension by 45%, and the average pension from the Pension Fund by 25%.
The average size of state benefits has grown by 58%, and payments from the Social Insurance Fund have more than 2.5 times.
At the same time, auditors note a number of systemic problems requiring improvement. It is reported that there is a need to intensify the conclusion of international agreements on the exchange of information about pension recipients, which will minimise the risk of double payments — in Kazakhstan and in the country of citizenship.
Furthermore, auditors raised questions regarding the instability of pension contributions among self-employed citizens. It is noted that the sufficiency of savings by the time of retirement depends on the regularity of such contributions.
The audit also revealed shortcomings in the asset management of the Social Insurance Fund — a number of practices require revision or strengthened control. The SAC identified cases of artificially inflating income and the number of jobs to receive increased maternity benefits.
In some cases, contributions were made simultaneously from three and even ten places of work, and 169 people were registered in more than 16 organisations.
In addition, facts of excessive withdrawal of assets of the Social Insurance Fund from trust management were established, which led to inefficient use of funds amounting to over 216 billion tenge.
The absence of a norm on the maximum amount of social payments and insufficient interaction with state revenue authorities caused further losses of 96 billion tenge.
"The effectiveness of the pension and social security systems is reduced by the lack of integration with the databases of authorised state bodies regarding obtaining information about deceased persons, those who have received permission to leave for permanent residence abroad, those registered with consular offices, etc. This issue requires improvement," the statement said.
Overall, based on the audit results, SAC employees identified financial violations amounting to 5 million tenge and inefficient use of funds totalling 216.2 billion tenge. A total of 46 systemic deficiencies were identified.
Documents were prepared for 22 cases to bring administrative charges, and another two were sent to law enforcement agencies.