Kazakhstan creates new foundation to manage recovered public assets

According to Magerram Magerramov, a member of the country’s parliament, the government wants to create a new agency that will be responsible for the management of recovered public assets that were illegally withdrawn from Kazakhstan.

Magerramov also noted that this new authorized agency will be established within the Office of the Prosecutor General. The board will be responsible for reclaiming illegally withdrawn assets. The parliament has already started working on a new draft law that is going to regulate the process of recovering public assets illegally withdrawn from the country.

«Moreover, the government plans to establish a special state fund and a managing company which will accumulate and manage all public assets the country will reclaim. This step is expected to allow authorities to redirect these additional resources to various social and economic projects and make this process more transparent and effective. All of this is going to raise the well-being of the people of Kazakhstan,» the MP said.

He also noted that this would be helpful for establishing a clear and transparent public mechanism for asset reclaiming.

Journalists also asked Finance Minister Yerulan Zhamaubayev what he thinks about the new agency.

«We are going to create a new special agency. It will be deemed an authorized agency that will solely focus on this task. Also, the cabinet will create a kind of fund. Probably, it is going to be a separate entity with its own banking account. We need some sort of mechanism for the management of those assets we are going to reclaim. This money must be put into some account. Therefore, we need such a structure. It won’t be big though, just ten people in it,» Zhamaubayev highlighted.

However, he refused to specify how much money would be required to establish this new agency, although he suggested that the new structure staff’s salaries must be paid at the expense of reclaimed assets. This would help to save budget money, he said. Zhamaubayev also noted that personnel of the new entity must be fluent in foreign languages as it is necessary to negotiate with foreign authorities.

In November 2022, during his inauguration, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered the cabinet to prepare a draft law that would regulate procedures for reclaiming illegally withdrawn capital and prevent such practice from happening. Later that day Tokayev signed a corresponding decree.

According to this decree, the new draft law must be aimed at the creation of an advisory board with specific responsibilities necessary for asset recovery; establishing a special state fund to accumulate recovered assets and manage them in favor of the well-being of the people of Kazakhstan; and stimulating the voluntary return of illegally withdrawn assets to the state.

In June last year, a special commission under the chairmanship of the Prosecutor General was established in Kazakhstan. The primary task of the board is the recovery of all financial assets illegally withdrawn from the country. At the time, Tokayev said that he would personally oversee the commission’s activity. The president came up with the idea of checking assets withdrawn from the country after the 2022 January events, when authorities reported a huge flow of capital withdrawn from the country by certain individuals.