Kazakhstani authorities want to recover illegally obtained assets

The authorities in Kazakhstan will create a list of people who will be obliged to reveal the origin of their assets, according to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.

«We are planning to create a limited list of individuals who have to file an income declaration. If an owner of certain assets can’t explain how he obtained them, the government will consider these assets illegally obtained and recover them,» he stated.

All such recovered assets are expected to be allocated for public projects in Kazakhstan.

Last year, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered the cabinet to bring all illegally obtained assets back to the country.

During his inauguration in November 2022, he said that the cabinet was going to issue new rules for recovering illegally obtained capital. The new legislation should also reduce loopholes that allow perpetrators to illegally withdraw money from the country.

In June 2022, the president gave the green light to a new state commission on illegally obtained asset recovery headed by the General Prosecutor. At the time, Tokayev stressed that he was going to keep an eye on the commission’s operation. The initiative followed public protests in January that caused significant political changes in the country. According to the president, some people illegally withdrew huge amounts of money from Kazakhstan during the unrest.