The Basel Institute of Governance has published an independent rating of the anti-money laundering sector, the «Basel AML Index», in which Kazakhstan has improved its position and left 110 countries behind.
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For reference: the Basel Anti-Money Laundering Index has been published since 2012 and operates under the auspices of the United Nations Programme on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Various institutions use the results of the study as an independent benchmarking tool to assess risks.
According to the press service of the Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA), citing an authoritative source in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, Kazakhstan ranked 111th in the rating with 4.65 points.
It is noted that the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing is assessed on a 10-point scale, where 10 represents the maximum risk and 0 the minimum.
As it became known, last year Kazakhstan was in 100th place with 4.71 points.
«Thus, the country has renewed its best result in the history of the rating, which has been published since 2012. In just the last 4 years, a big leap has been made in the rating – from 73rd place in 2020 to 111th place this year. Kazakhstan has overtaken countries such as the USA, Japan, Singapore, China, Qatar, Italy, Hungary and Turkey», the statement reads.
The TOP-5 countries with the lowest risk include San Marino, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Andorra and Sweden.
«In 2024, the Index (within the public version) assessed 164 countries and was based on 17 indicators in 5 areas, measuring various factors contributing to high risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. Changes were made to the rating methodology, reflecting the growing risks of fraud as a predicate crime related to money laundering», the agency reported.
Recall that in May, it was reported that the inter-district criminal court of Shymkent is hearing a case in which the dock includes the former head of GKP «KUATZHYLUORTALYK-3», former heads of the energy and infrastructure development department of Shymkent, as well as directors of firms and companies involved in construction and the energy business.
They were accused of issuing fictitious invoices, embezzlement of property using official position, as well as money laundering or legalisation of property obtained by criminal means.
In August, the FMA announced a manhunt for entrepreneur Boyko Mikhail Adamovich, who was accused of committing crimes under Art. 245 Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Tax evasion) and Art. 218 Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Legalisation/money laundering of money and other property obtained by criminal means).
According to the agency, he failed to pay corporate income tax from exporting fish product enterprises, causing damage to the state in the amount of over 400 million tenge.
In November, a local resident in Kyzylorda was convicted for the illegal sale of petroleum products and money laundering. In 2018, the defendant registered a limited liability partnership for the wholesale of petroleum products. She then began selling diesel fuel, but, as it turned out during the investigation, she sold it without documents.