Kazakhstan: officials are talking about electronic bracelets again

The Kazakhstani authorities cannot decide on the fate of the project to introduce electronic bracelets to monitor those released from prison and persons in respect of whom measures of restraint not related to detention have been chosen. In June of this year, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the republic officially announced that electronic bracelets were outdated, and the authorities decided to abandon them. However, on July 21, at a board meeting, the head of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Alik Shpekbayev, said that the bracelets must be used.

Recall, as ACCA has already reported, on June 9, Interior Minister Yerlan Turgumbayev at an online briefing said following:

“We had this project about five years ago, it was assumed that electronic bracelets would be introduced to control those released from prison, and the operational control center would monitor their movements, as well as unlawful actions. However, this product is too expensive, and nowadays, due to the lack of financial resources, the Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot simply purchase it. Besides, technologies have gone so far ahead, there is no need for electronic bracelets because almost everyone has a smartphone. If we update the smartphone and register it with the internal affairs bodies, practically through the smartphone we will see the movements of such individuals, and also through Facetime, we will be able to monitor its location,” this is how the minister explained the reasons for rejecting this project.

However, the current speech of the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Alik Shpekbayev, casts doubt on the fact that there is not only interaction between the law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan, but also mutual understanding.

“It is necessary to spread the practice of the city of Almaty on the use of electronic bracelets for tracking persons in respect of whom measures of restraint not related to detention have been chosen,” Shpekbayev said.

He also said that the anti-corruption agency is developing the Digital Anticor project, within the framework of which predictive and analytical tools for detecting corruption crimes based on Big Data technology will be implemented.

“We need to use the potential of electronic criminal cases as much as possible. We must make the most of the resources of the domestic IT industry, which, with the correct formulation of tasks, could offer us non-trivial solutions to leveling corruption in a particular area. In this regard, an online anticor-hackathon (a competition among teams of programmers to develop the most original IT solution against corruption) will be organized in the near future, ”Shpekbaev explained.

The head of the department also named the reasons for the high level of corruption in Kazakhstan. In his opinion, the whole point is that the state is too strongly represented in the country’s economy.

“In Kazakhstan, one of the key economic drivers of corruption is undoubtedly the still significant share of the state in the economy. State-owned enterprises, managed by officials, do not shine with particular efficiency, and they often appear in a corruption report. The current pandemic crisis hit business activity very hard, and therefore, for its high-quality restoration, complex solutions are needed, aimed at large-scale liberalization of state regulation based on the principles of maximum freedom of entrepreneurship and competition. Creating a comfortable environment for doing business is a strategic task, including an anti-corruption policy point of view, ”he explained.

At the same time, the head of the anti-corruption department admitted that kickbacks are widely practiced among Kazakhstani officials.

“It’s hard to admit that the system of kickbacks is still flourishing, the rates of which are known to everyone. Some officials who are not clean on their hands, even in such a difficult time for the country, go to outright blasphemy, enriching themselves on the purchase of personal protective equipment, medicines, and medical equipment. Agree, arrests and jailing alone will not solve this problem. Therefore, it seems expedient to radically revise the system of planning and utilizing budget funds. I see the solution in ensuring total openness and transparency in budgets of all levels, as well as strengthening public and civil control, ”Shpekbayev said.

He also informed the population about how the order of the President of the country, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, is being implemented to check for corruption risks of the Medical Insurance Fund and SK-Pharmacia, two companies that are responsible for the health of the nation.

On the same day, both leaders were dismissed from their posts. On July 13, the anti-corruption department began an inspection of SK-Pharmacia, and on July 17 it became known that a pre-trial investigation was launched against the ex-management of the National Social Health Insurance Fund.

“Whoever closely monitors social networks will agree with me that citizens consider corruption, bureaucracy, and irresponsibility to be one of the main reasons for the complication of the situation with coronavirus. And this is quite true, especially in the context of criminal cases against officials of SK-Pharmacia, the Medical Insurance Fund, as well as a number of medical institutions of local executive bodies. The current analysis of corruption risks in the activities of SK-Pharmacia should be carried out promptly, with the wide involvement of external experts. The quality of our analytics will determine how effective and respectable this organization will become in the future, ”Shpekbayev said at today’s meeting.

He also said that the department opened two criminal cases against high-ranking officials of the Ministries of Digital Development and Education and Science. The main fighter against corruption did not disclose the names of the defendants, but just yesterday – July 20 – the press service of the country’s president reported that the head of state had dismissed Askar Zhumagaliyev, minister of digital development, innovation and aerospace industry, and also dismissed his digitalization and innovative technologies advisor Bagdat Musin. It is noteworthy that in the text of the decree on the termination of Musin says “in connection with the transfer to another job.” The decree on the resignation of Askar Zhumagaliyev does not contain such a wording. Based on this, it can be assumed that one of the criminal cases is being conducted either against Zhumagaliev himself or against one of his former subordinates.

Towards the end of the board meeting, Alik Shpekbayev urged to speed up the process of introducing the electronic national currency.

“First, it will accelerate the decline of cash which is so bribe-friendly. Secondly, it will provide full transparency of the movement of budgetary funds in public procurement, – said Shpekbaev. – You know perfectly well that corrupt officials do not stand still, constantly coming up with new schemes for committing crimes. Our task is to stay ahead of the curve, improving our potential for detecting and investigating corruption offenses. During the first half of the year, we submitted several conceptual proposals to the Head of State for consideration that could significantly reduce the level of corruption. They relate to the strengthening of responsibility for corruption, legal regulation of the institution of public control, the introduction of new anti-corruption restrictions, the prohibition for civil servants to open and own accounts in foreign banks, as well as the implementation of basic international standards in our legislation as the criminalization of proposals/offers of bribes, the spread of the concept of corruption to the private sector, creating comprehensive whistle-blower protection ”.