Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Chairman of the Commission for the Recovery of Assets Bektenov O.A. А.
Copies: Deputies of the Majilis of the Parliament Bapi E.S., Imasheva S.V., Sairov E.B., Sarym A.A.
Dear Olzhas Abayevich!The public foundation “Elge Qaitaru” considers the return of illegally acquired property to the state as an important direction of state policy and the adoption of the relevant law last year as a step towards restoring social justice in society.
However, we believe that the implementation of the law has encountered certain difficulties.
The cases reported by the government and other public authorities concerning the conviction of certain persons are the result of the application of the provisions of the Criminal Code, not of the law.
The “return to Kazakhstan jurisdiction” of Jusan Bank and Karmetkombinat can hardly be considered as compliance with the Law “On the Return of Illegally Acquired Assets to the State”.
To fully exploit the potential of this law, the Public Foundation “Elge Qaitaru” asks you to consider the following proposals:
1. As is well known, in the 90s of the last century almost all the country’s largest companies ended up in the hands of non-transparent structures as a result of various manipulations. None of the current owners of these companies has paid even half of their market value to the state budget.
We believe that one of the main obstacles is the methodological narrowness of the tools for implementing the law, which provides for its application by defining only a circle of subjects. In order to activate the process of recovery of illegal assets, it would also be advisable to legislate that the subject of the activities of the Commission and the Asset Recovery Committee should be all objects whose value exceeds thirteen million times the monthly calculation index (100 million USD), as it is already provided for natural persons – subjects. In this regard, we propose the following amendment to the Law:
P.1 Art.9 of the Law (Functions of the Commission) to add para. 5 with the following wording:
“5) To draw up a list of objects to be returned to the State, the legality of whose transfer to private ownership raises reasonable doubts”.
These objects should be listed separately in the register.
2. Article 4(1)(3)(1) of the Law establishes publicity, transparency and accountability as the main principles of asset recovery. However, nine months after the adoption of the Law on the Return of Illegally Acquired Assets to the State,which provides for the establishment of a register containing information on
entities owned, controlled or possessed by the following persons
assets, subject to confirmation of the legitimacy of the sources of their acquisition.
(of origin), neither Parliament nor the public will be informed as to who exactly is
who exactly is included in this register. In accordance with the above paragraph
We propose that the Register be opened, with the necessary amendments to this
amendments to this law.
3. Article 8 of the Law provides for the inclusion of public figures in the Commission for the Recovery of Assets. Today, these are the employees of quasi-state structures, Mr A.M. Baimenov and Mr Y.A. Kulekeev. We ask you to define by law the mechanism of delegating public representatives to the Commission and to significantly increase their number, taking into account the fact that many public figures are ready to participate in the work of the Commission without remuneration.