The Kazakhstan Association of Minority Shareholders (QAMS) has stated that there has been no official response from the government to a request regarding the election of the artificial intelligence Samruk-Kazyna Artificial Intelligence (SKAI) as an independent director on the board of directors of the Samruk-Kazyna Fund. In response to the inquiry, the Fund cited that the decision was made by the sole shareholder — the government.
According to the press service of QAMS, the reason for the request was an unprecedented situation: the participation of artificial intelligence on the Fund's board of directors.
The association noted that an independent director is an official whose decisions have legal consequences for the Fund and its numerous portfolio companies.
If one of the parties involved in decision-making does not have legal personality, there is a risk of subsequent challenges to the decisions of the board of directors.
It has become known that the Prime Minister's office forwarded the QAMS inquiry to the Ministry of National Economy and the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM). However, it is reported that both departments refrained from commenting.
In the end, the only response came from the Fund's Managing Director, Adil Tabultayev. He stated that the decision to elect SKAI belongs to the shareholder — the government — and is supposedly used to improve the quality of analytics and transparency of management decisions.
In the explanations provided, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Law "On the National Welfare Fund" was cited as the basis. However, the response does not reference the provisions of the Law "On Joint-Stock Companies", corporate governance regulations, or any clauses confirming the possibility of a participant without civil legal status serving on the board of directors.
According to representatives of QAMS, the absence of such clarifications creates legal uncertainty.
According to the association's preliminary estimates, potential risks for investors may include doubts about the legitimacy of board decisions, the possibility of challenging transactions if a participant without civil legal status was involved in their approval, as well as increased regulatory and legal risks for future holders of securities of the Fund and its subsidiaries.
Recall that earlier, the Samruk-Kazyna Fund presented the SKAI neural network to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, which became the first digital independent board member with voting rights in the region. Later, the digital board member took part in a Fund meeting, where it presented an analytical report on supporting domestic producers.
Meanwhile, Mazhilis deputy Yekaterina Smyshlyayeva ruled out the possibility of appointing artificial intelligence to government positions. She stated that current legislation does not allow for such a scenario.