Corruption fighters of Kazakhstan took a steam bath, violating the state of emergency

The Anti-Corruption Agency has launched an internal investigation into its employees from the Anti-Corruption department of Akmola region. The reason for the check was the fact of spending time by anti-corruption in the bath complex “Izbushka”, which was a violation of the state of emergency acting in the country.

Video with the steamed bodies of corruption fighters appeared on the network at the end of last week. On Instagram posts, which were published by @kokshetauasia, there was the head of the investigation department of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Akmola region, Ruslan Turganbekov. He was trying to explain to the police, who were carrying out the raid on complying with the state of emergency, that there was no offense in staying in the bathhouse.

“You see, we are working in one team, we will not infect each other! You know this. One day a month we got out to relax. An hour, I promise, we’ll sit and that’s it. Well, guys, you understand that we need to relax a little bit,” said Turganbekov, standing in front of law enforcement officers with a naked trunk.

The police, in turn, also tried to resolve the situation without consequences for themselves.

“So that tomorrow there would be no consequences for us!” says one of them.

“We are standing here, waiting for you for an hour. And you are sitting there, drinking,” adds another.

“If any of you got dressed and came to us with the words, “Guys, let’s talk about it… You sit and continue to ignore us,” the third one expressed his resentment.

“Why are you standing here and recording? What is this for?”, asks Turganbekov.

In response, the police assured him that everything would be fine, and left. So, Turganbekov and his colleagues returned to the steam room.

It should be noted that the state of emergency in Kazakhstan was introduced by the presidential decree on March 16, 2020.

“In connection with the announcement of the new coronavirus COVID-19 by the World Health Organization as a pandemic, in order to protect the life and health of citizens, a state of emergency must be introduced in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan throughout the Republic of Kazakhstan for the period from 8 am on March 16, 2020 to 7 am on April 15, 2020,” the decree said.

Among other measures prescribed in this regulatory document, the suspension of the activities of organizations with a massive crowd of people was specifically stipulated. On April 14, the state of emergency and quarantine were extended until the end of April.

Almost from the first day of the introduction of the state of emergency and quarantine, police in Kazakhstan conduct raids to comply with these requirements.

“On April 18, at about 10.30 pm, the officers of the Criminal Police Department, during raid activities in Kokshetau, revealed a violation of the state of emergency by the owner of the bath complex “Izbushka”. Despite the established restrictive measures and the ban on citizens being outside their homes after 9 pm, there were four visitors in the building at the time of the check. For violation of the state of emergency, 30-year-old owner of the bath complex “Izbushka”, as well as clients, including officials from the Department of the Anti-Corruption Agency, were brought to administrative responsibility,” the press service of the region police department of Akmola informed after the video from the bath complex went to the Internet.

In turn, the Anti-Corruption department reported that on this fact, an internal audit has been launched against its employees, based on the results of which appropriate measures will be taken.

It should be added that since the introduction of the state of emergency in Kazakhstan, 1555 people were made answerable for its violation, 605 of them were arrested.