Kazakhstan Continues Implementing Anti-Corruption Initiatives

Anti-Corruption Portal

The Anti-Corruption Portal (hereinafter, the Portal) launched last April by the Anti-Corruption Agency (Сыбайлас жемқорлыққа қарсы іс-қимыл ұлттық агенттігі, hereinafter, the Agency), is a digital platform aggregating key information on the fight against corruption in the country targeted not only at the anti-corruption specialists, but also at the general public.

The Portal, in particular, provides:

A corruption map including the lists and maps of corruption risks by region and public bodies, and lists of positions vulnerable to corruption risks;
Normative acts, guidance and analytical materials on anti-corruption, statistics on corruption crimes;
Online courses on corruption prevention;
Anti-corruption awareness-raising video spots;
Online surveys on anti-corruption matters open to the users;
A feedback form for filing tips on facts of corruption;
An application form for participating in anti-corruption initiatives as volunteers.

Integrity verifications

A bill “On Testing for Professional Integrity” has been submitted to the attention of Kazakhstan’s Parliament earlier this year. The act envisages the establishment of an “integrity testing” institution for the employees of prosecution, internal affairs, financial monitoring, anti-corruption and civil protection bodies and defines the main terms related to the professional integrity testing, rights and obligations of all participants of the testing, procedure and specifics of the process of testing, as well as the follow-up measures.

The integrity checks constitute a practical tool based on putting the tested in an artificial situation imitating their everyday life of officials to verify whether they respect their job regulations and professional ethics norms. Such checks are actively used in a number of foreign jurisdictions, primarily, in the Anglo-Saxon ones (the Unites States, the United Kingdom and Australia) and in the countries of Eastern Europe.

Guidance on anti-corruption standards

Decree of the Chair of the Agency of 31 December 2024 No. 285 adopted the Guidance on Formulating Anti-Corruption Standards (hereinafter, the Guidance). The document is targeted at public bodies and organisations and actors of the quasi-public sector and entrepreneurship, and consists of eight sections constituting the framework of the anti-corruption standard for the indicated categories.

1) Mapping of corruption risks.

Corruption risk assessment is a basis for adopting anti-corruption measures and includes:

Detection of corruption risks, i.e. systematic analysis (at least once a year) of the internal processes, functions, organisational structure, laws regulating activities of the organisation, outcomes of the checks of actors, previously established in-house facts of corruption or conflicts of interest and other sources of information;
Classification of the risks detected proceeding from the probability and frequency of their occurrence;
Adoption of the measures for eliminating and mitigating corruption risks with the deadline, executor and reporting form being indicated;
Awareness-raising of all stakeholders also by publishing a plan for eliminating and minimizing corruption risks and creating a feedback mechanism for the stakeholders.

2) Conflicts of interest prevention.

The Guidance stresses that the individuals holding important public offices empowered to execute public functions, individuals equated to them and officials are already subject to a number of prohibitions and requirements aimed at preventing conflicts of interest by law. At the same time, the actors subject to the Guidance are entitled to introduce additional internal measures such as personal interest declarations, notifications about gifts and trips, and dedicated procedures for detecting and managing conflicts of interest.

Conflicts of interest can be detected throughout external and internal analyses of corruption risks, anti-corruption monitoring, audit procedures, verifications, processing of complaints, and in the outcome of pre-trial and trial proceedings. Organisations can undertake additional assessments of conflict-of-interest risks by unit and position, as well as develop dedicated procedures for detecting them throughout the implementation of joint projects with other organisations.

Employees must inform, at their own initiative, their management and the anti-corruption division about conflicts of interest or about the possibility of their occurrence as soon as they get aware thereof. Based on such notifications, the anti-corruption entities provide advice and the management addresses such situations, for example, by redistributing duties, moving the employee to a different position or delegating powers.

The section also puts forward the recommendations on restrictions for employment in commercial organisations following the termination in the public sector and explains in detail the rules regulating the acceptance of gifts, invitations to trips and entertainment, including the procedure for declaring, returning and buying them back.

3) Financial control measures.

Financial control - the presence of a system of assets, income and property declaration – is an important component of corruption prevention.

The Guidance considers the procedure for gathering the notifications of submission of declarations, the list of individuals obliged to file different types of declarations, content of declarations and procedure for their publication. Additionally, it is highlighted that starting from 2027 the difference between the expenses and income exceeding 1000 MCI will entail administrative liability.

Particular attention is also paid to verifying the presence of accounts in foreign banks: to this end, organisations should appoint those responsible, create the lists of employees, send requests to tax authorities and monitor compliance with the requirement to close foreign accounts.

4) Enhanced anti-corruption culture.

The document considers anti-corruption culture as a basis for preventing corruption that would supplement legal and organisational measures. In order to foster it, systemic awareness-raising and educational activities aimed at encouraging integrity, transparency and accountability values among the employees are needed.

In particular, it is recommended that regular educational events, including workshops, training and testing, covering all categories of employees be undertaken. Education should be targeted at practice and actual cases with mandatory assessment of the knowledge acquired. Special attention should be paid to training the line management who interacts daily with the personnel.

It is also recommended that organisations adopt a plan of measures for fostering anti-corruption culture on an annual basis linking it to the findings of the corruption risk analysis. The part of the employees who complete the training successfully (at least 60 per cent of correct answers to the final test) can be used as a target indicator. Furthermore, it is suggested to publish check-lists and brief algorithms of action in encountering corruption risks and conflicts interest in internal resources.

5) Accountability and openness of public bodies and organisations.

The respective section contains recommendations aimed at providing the general public with access to information about the activities of public bodies and organisations. Notably, it is suggested to publish up-to-date data on the official websites and in social networks regularly, use simple language in the information materials and employ digital solutions for explaining the rights of citizens and providing information about the normative acts in place.

At the same time, it is necessary to comply with the principles enshrined in the international documents, including the UN Convention against Corruption and the International Open Data Charter. This means, in particular, that data should be published following the “open by default” principle, i.e. to be timely, accessible and suitable for use.

As regards public control, it is suggested to adopt annual schedules of consultation with citizens, establish transparent criteria for selecting the members of public councils and take account of the conflict-of-interest risk in forming control groups.

6) Corruption prevention in human resources management.

Transparent and objective processes of recruitment and promotion of personnel are a very important condition for forming a professional and efficient public administration. The main corruption risks in this area include nepotism, lack of transparency in the appointment and promotion procedures, manipulation of competitions and evaluations, as well as lobbying and pressure by stakeholders.

In order to mitigate them, the Guidance suggests ensuring the maximum transparency of the HR procedures, including maintaining clear records of motivation for taking decisions and respect for the existing rules in conducting competitions and performance evaluations, using templates and algorithms that minimise the impact of the subjective factor, employing automated tools and mechanisms of independent evaluation for enhancing objectiveness in selection candidates.

7) Corruption prevention in public procurement.

In order to mitigate corruption risks in procurement, the document recommends conducting a preliminary risk assessment in procurement planning, ensuring openness of procurement information and excluding the restrictions that are not provided by law.

Particular attention is paid to the prevention of conflicts of interest of the individuals participating in procurement; notably, it is suggested to formalize the procedures for detecting such cases and establishing the order of their settlement.

In order to mitigate the risk of misconduct, it is also recommended using automated procurement systems and analysing the complaints and appeals of participants, assessing the procurement activities with the participation of internal and external experts on a regular basis, taking into consideration the findings of verification and audit controls in adjusting internal procedures. The importance of training of the personnel involved in procurement on transparency and integrity of procurement is underlined as well.

8) Corruption prevention in the quasi-public and private sectors.

In order to implement the anti-corruption standard in the quasi-public and private sectors, it is suggested to develop and adopt anti-corruption compliance programmes. Such programmes include internal procedures for preventing corruption, description of risks, procedure for eliminating them, distribution of responsibility and control and effectiveness assessment mechanisms. A compliance programme can include measures for preventing conflicts of interest, a procedure for reporting violations, rules of internal control and requirements for ethical conduct.

The programme is adopted by the management of the organisation and can be formalised as a separate document or a part of other local acts. It is recommended ensuring the participation of employees and public councils in drafting programmes, publishing drafts on the websites to gather suggestions, conducting discussions involving stakeholders, as well as organising training of employees, revisiting the measures adopted on a regular basis, ensuring transparency of the anti-corruption policy and providing open access to the key documents.

Besides taking measures in the above-listed areas, it is suggested that, in order to implement the standard effectively, the actors subject to the Recommendations appoint the employees or divisions responsible for corruption prevention counting at least three people. Relevant functions, in particular, can be entrusted with those responsible for ethics, the HR service (for the public bodies), and compliance and legal services (for organisations of the quasi-public sector and business entities) or others by entrusting the indicated functions with them. These persons should be selected based on their professional experience in a relevant area (for example, corruption prevention, compliance, and risk management) undergo training or professional development programme, have direct access to the top manager and the necessary documents with their powers and responsibilities being clearly defined.