Kazakhstan: Purge of law enforcement agencies from corrupt officials continues

In Kazakhstan, the purge of law enforcement agencies from corrupt officials continues. It began with the arrest of the former head of the National Security Committee, Karim Masimov, after the January riots.

Masimov is charged with actions aimed at “Forcible seizure of power”, “Abuse of power”, as well as taking a bribe in the amount of two million US dollars. Together with Masimov, two of his deputies were arrested. Then the brother of the ex-Chairman of the NSC Nurlan Masimov, who previously headed the Police Department of Pavlodar region, was also put on the wanted list. He is also suspected of taking a bribe on a large scale.

Meanwhile, Serik Kudebaev, the former chief of police of Almaty region, was recently dismissed from the internal affairs bodies. For Kudebaev, this is not a good sign. In Kazakhstan, as a rule, dismissal precedes arrest.

In addition, on April 27, it became known that another former police chief, the head of the Local police service (LPS) of Chimkent, Mukhtar Bukharbaev, was detained on suspicion of fraud using his official position. The story of Mukhtar Bukharbaev resounded through the country in November last year. Then the commander of the first company of the LPS Azamat Aimbetov recorded a video message addressed to President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, in which he accused Bukharbaev of forcing him to buy expensive things: gadgets, perfume, clothes and even furniture.

However, the video message didn’t have the desired effect and Bukharbaev was only suspended from work. In order to punish his former boss, Aimbetov had to record a second video message. Only after that, the materials concerning Bukharbaev were transferred to the Anti-Corruption Agency.

“The Anti-Corruption Service of Chimkent is conducting a pre-trial investigation against the former head of the Local police service of Chimkent on the fact of fraud, using his official position. On April 25, Bukharbaev was detained and placed in a temporary detention facility. The pre-trial investigation continues. Other information is not subject to disclosure,” the Anti-Corruption Agency wrote in its statement.

According to data published by the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Accounts under the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan, only in the first three months of this year, 725 corruption crimes were committed in the republic, of which 110 offenses were committed by officials.

It’s also worth recalling that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced an uncompromising fight against corruption.