{"id":2824,"date":"2014-05-15T23:48:22","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T21:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/?p=2824"},"modified":"2021-08-20T16:34:09","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T14:34:09","slug":"life-guardsmen-of-nursultan-nazarbaev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/life-guardsmen-of-nursultan-nazarbaev\/","title":{"rendered":"Life-guardsmen of Nursultan Nazarbaev"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agency for Fighting Corruption \u2013 a repressive machine guarding the interests of the main corruptionist of Kazakhstan.<\/i>
\n(Part I)<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the article I have carefully collected the facts, which I suggest will be thoroughly studied by the reader. In my opinion, Kazakh society lacks the important information that since 2005 there has been an institution in Kazakhstan, which can \u201ctake anyone by the hand and put in jail\u201d.\u00a0Kazakhstan Agency for Fighting Corruption and Economic Crimes<\/strong>\u00a0was established on financial police basis, and is subordinated to Nursultan Nazarbaev personally. Its employees have wide powers and special privileges. All headline-making cases of the last decade, from \u201cAblyazov\u2019s case\u201d to \u201cDosmukhamedov\u2019s case\u201d were initiated by the Agency. The institution is responsible for thousands of broken lives. Under the guise of the fight against corruption this repressive apparatus, on the one hand, puts personas non grata to jail, and on the other hand, fulfills the plan.<\/p>\n

History of establishment<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the official site in the section \u201cAbout the Agency- History\u201d one can retrace the history of tax body transformation into a repressive institution under the personal control of Nursultan Nazarbaev.<\/p>\n

The start point is perhaps 1997, when in accordance with Decree of the President a new criminal procedure code regulating the tax police status was approved in Kazakhstan. The document grants to the tax police the right\u00a0of preliminary investigation for the cases of the so called tax jurisdiction<\/strong>. This is very important because later on the status of the organization and its power will change, and by mid-2000s the Agency will have been entitled:<\/p>\n

– to bring forcibly the persons avoiding appearance on call;
\n– to confiscate or seize documents, goods, articles or other property;
\n– to use the respective temporary detention facilities;
\n– to create and use information systems;
\n\u2026 and it is only a few of super powers from the list called \u201cBasic Functions and Rights of the Agency\u201d approved by \u00a0Decree No. 1557 signed by N. Nazarbaev.<\/p>\n

In 2001 Nursultan Nazarbaev abolished the Tax Police Committee and established the Financial Police Agency, i.\u0435. after political crisis and defeat of the social movement \u201cDemocratic Choice of Kazakhstan\u201d in 2001. Then, in 2001\u2013 2004, the Kazakh President was deeply absorbed in establishment of his institution. During this period decrees of the country leader pour like from a horn of plenty. Along with special privileges and pensions, the financial police get a banner, a coat of arms, and even an employee\u2019s oath, according to the Agency\u2019s site, written by President Nazarbaev personally.<\/p>\n

In December of 2005 Nursultan Nazarbaev won the presidential election with record breaking 91.5%, and in February he signed Decree No. 1521 \u201con reorganization of Kazakhstan Agency for Fighting Corruption and Economic Crimes (financial police) into a state agency directly subordinated and accountable to President of Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

Since then the balance of power in Kazakh security agencies has started to change. All institutions, from the National Security Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to tax departments have been ordered to provide assistance to the agency. People in blue are in a special position. The Agency employs a bit less than 4,000 people. The first chairman of the agency was late Sarybay Kalmurzaev, the second \u2013 Kairat Kozhamzharov, and since 2012 \u2013 the former Prosecutor-General of the Republic of Kazakhstan \u2013 Rashid Tusupbekov.<\/p>\n

Virtual Fight<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s ask a question \u2013 what has been going on with corruption in Kazakhstan for about 10 years of existence of the Agency to fight it? According to annual report of\u00a0Transparency International<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>foundation the level of corruption in Kazakhstan is steadily growing.\u00a0 In 2005 the country was the 107th<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0in the annual rating, and by 2014 Kazakhstan has slid to the 140th<\/sup>\u00a0position<\/strong>\u00a0(rating scale: from 1 \u2013 countries with a zero corruption level, up to 170 \u2013 countries having 10 and higher).<\/p>\n

Corruption indices in Kazakhstan say one thing, and Agency\u2019s reports say quite another. Here is the example from the report \u201dStrategic Plan for Fighting Corruption for 2009 \u2013 2011\u201d: \u2026the number of adjudicated criminal cases involving corruption offenses\u00a0 has increased<\/i>.\u00a0<\/i>If in<\/i>\u00a02006\u00a0<\/i>courts heard<\/i>\u00a063.8%\u00a0<\/i>of corruption cases initiated<\/i>,\u00a0<\/i>in<\/i>\u00a02007\u00a0<\/i>the figure amounted to<\/i>\u00a084.5%.\u00a0<\/i>The statistics shows that financial police bodies are purposefully working at inevitability of punishment<\/i>.\u00a0<\/i>So, the work seems to be done, people are put to jail, but there is no results of victory over corruption like before. A natural question arises \u2013 why?<\/p>\n

First of all, corruption offences shall be proved by the facts of financial offenses. This issue is under the jurisdiction of the Tax Committee subordinated to the Ministry of Finance. If I am in private business, I also have certain rights and freedoms protected by the Law on Investments, private business, etc. \u00a0My business is checked by tax authorities, every year I submit reports and fill in declarations. The Agency for Fighting Corruption does not perform the job like that. They work in another way. At first they accuse, and then start cooperating with financial supervision bodies to find out details.<\/p>\n

I can give my personal example. In the case with accusation of our family the Agency had no financial or tax reports. Until 2011 the Tax Committee had not claims to us. And in 2011 it was the Agency which initiated a case against us. How was it done? First the information was provided; in the Agency\u2019s structure there is a whole information and analytical department faking up such matters. On compromising sites there appeared a list of property items allegedly owned by the family of ex-akim of Almaty Khrapunov. \u00a0This list included everything, property which was a part of a business sold ten years before, or \u201cgarages\u201d, which in fact were parking places adjacent to the office building. On the same principle Mukhtar Ablyazov was \u201cgranted\u201d as a private property a 9-storey building being on the bank balance, so all apartments in the house were allegedly owned by him personally. The main goal of such fakes is to belie and to make a malicious image. They have nothing in common with the reality.<\/p>\n

Then, on the basis of such faked information attacks the Agency starts investigation. At first they accuse, and then start cooperating with financial supervision bodies to find out details. This is the way they work with those whom the country leader ordered them to attack.<\/p>\n

The situation at the level where the Agency just tries to fulfill its plan is even worse. Thousands of cases are initiated. \u00a0People are caught out in minor bribes, nice reports are written, and figures are provided. A person can be accused of bribery without recording of the fact of giving bribe and without any material evidence, according to the information received from a third party protected by investigation department, who even will not be present in court. His\/her surname will not be disclosed, and he\/she will even get remuneration.<\/p>\n

It reminds of the court of \u201cthree\u201d in 1937, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

(In the second part of the article there will be analyzed where major corruptionists do their job, and why nobody tries to catch them. For reference:\u00a0\u00a0Transparency International emphasizes that \u00a0KazMunaiGas \u201cprovides relatively little data on deductions from its income and payments in accordance with anti-corruption programs\u201d, and due to this fact the company has been classified as medium in terms of income transparency).<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be continued.<\/p>\n

*<\/sup>\u00a0the text is edited by the Press Secretary<\/p>\n

Transparency International<\/a>
\n\u041f\u043e \u0434\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044b\u043c \u0418\u043d\u0434\u0435\u043a\u0441\u0430 \u0432\u043e\u0441\u043f\u0440\u0438\u044f\u0442\u0438\u044f \u043a\u043e\u0440\u0440\u0443\u043f\u0446\u0438\u0438 2005, \u0432 70 \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0430\u0445 \u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430 \u043f\u043e-\u043f\u0440\u0435\u0436\u043d\u0435\u043c\u0443 \u0446\u0430\u0440\u0438\u0442 \u0432\u0437\u044f\u0442\u043e\u0447\u043d\u0438\u0447\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e<\/a>
\n\u0424\u0438\u043d\u0430\u043d\u0441\u043e\u0432\u0430\u044f \u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0446\u0438\u044f \u0420\u0435\u0441\u043f\u0443\u0431\u043b\u0438\u043a\u0438 \u041a\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0445\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d: \u0446\u0438\u0444\u0440\u044b \u0438 \u0444\u0430\u043a\u0442\u044b<\/a>
\n\u041f\u0440\u0438\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0442 \u0444\u0438\u043d\u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0446\u0438\u0438 \u2014 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0443\u043f\u0440\u0435\u0436\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u043a\u043e\u0440\u0440\u0443\u043f\u0446\u0438\u0438<\/a><\/p>\n

Our strength is in the power of thought, the power of truth, and the power of word.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Agency for Fighting Corruption \u2013 a repressive machine guarding the interests of the main corruptionist of Kazakhstan. (Part I) For the article I have carefully collected the facts, [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[102,103,104,106,108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2824"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2826,"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions\/2826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viktorkhrapunov.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}