In Kazakhstan, judge was detained while taking a bribe

Employees of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan caught red-handed, while receiving a bribe, a judge of the Criminal Appeals Board of Turkestan Regional court, Ashirbek Rakhymbaev.

The exact amount of the bribe received by the judge was not disclosed. However, judging by the published video of the detention, in the frames of which employees lay out the seized money on the bed in the house of the minister of Themis, we are talking about at least $15 000.

“On January 31, 2020, the National Security Committee, together with the Internal Security Division of the Supreme Court, prevented the corruption of Ashirbek Rakhymbaev, judge of the Criminal Appeals Board of Turkestan Regional court. The suspect received a significant bribe for unlawful assistance in mitigating the sentence of the convict. Currently, a pre-trial investigation is being conducted on part 2 of article 366 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan,” said the official representative of the National Security Committee Arken Abdugali.

It should be noted that we are talking about the article “Taking a bribe in a significant amount”. The punishment for this criminal offense provides for a fine in the amount of sixty times the amount of the bribe (that is, in this case more than $800 000), or imprisonment for a term of three to seven years, with confiscation of property, with life deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities.

The National Security Committee also noted that the fact of receiving a bribe by a judge is also proved by materials of secret investigative actions. Caught red-handed, the judge fully admitted his guilt.

There is a very funny fact in this story. In September last year, a three-day seminar for the teaching staff on the theme “Formation of an anti-corruption culture in educational institutions” was held at the Kazakh-Turkish International University. The main goal of the seminar was to develop a high level of anti-corruption culture through regular and systematic anti-corruption training, taking into account professional characteristics. On the first day, it was Ashirbek Rakhymbaev who gave a lecture on anti-corruption culture to the audience …