Kazakhstan establishes special company to manage recovered public assets

The government of Kazakhstan is going to establish a new company to manage recovered public assets under the law on illegally withdrawn assets.

What happened? The Ministry of Finance has published a draft resolution on the establishment of a Limited Liability Partnership, which will be tasked with managing returned assets. The document will be available for public consideration until August 14, 2023.

What name is the government going to give to the new company? Authorities are planning to call the new company the Recovered Asset Managing Company, LLP. The government will have a 100% stake in the entity. For instance, the Ministry of Finance is going to provide it with some state property, which will also be considered the company’s registered capital.

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What goals is the new company going to go for? The company tasks are going to be the following:

– getting control over recovered public assets;

– ensuring the safety and maintenance of assets recovered by the government;

– managing assets;

– selling assets and transferring money to the special public fund.

Who will run the company? This decision is yet to be made by the State Property and Privatization Committee.

The context. On July 12, 2023, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law on the recovery of illegally acquired assets. According to the law, a new agency must be established within the Prosecutor General’s Office. The primary task of the new entity is to recover public assets illegally withdrawn from the country. In addition, the law requires the government to establish a special public fund and a managing company for recovered public assets.

The document also expands the powers of prosecutors to facilitate processes related to asset search and recovery. However, the new legislation ensures that law enforcement agencies won’t go after those who voluntarily bring money back to the country.

Given the nuances of the law, President Tokayev even asked the Constitutional Court to assess the legislation. After the review, the court said that the law doesn’t contradict constitutional law on compulsory recovery of illegally obtained assets into state revenue.