What are the bribes in Kazakhstan? Fertilizers and fish

Kazakh corruption officials don’t disdain anything. At the press conference, employees of the Anti-Corruption Agency spoke about types of non-monetary corruption.

If, according to the story of Senior investigator of the first department of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Daniyar Bigaydarov, you make a kind of hit parade of bribes “in kind”, then the first place, of course, should be awarded to the mayor of Aksay rural district, who managed to get a bribe for illegal granting of a land plot for individual housing construction in the form of fertilizers for plants worth more than $600 and forged flower jardinières (flower stands) for a little more than $300. Despite it happened in 2017, no one was able to surpass the originality of the mayor-gardener over the past time. By the way, as Bigaydarov noted, the mayor was fined over $18 000 for his love for fertilizers and jardinières.

The head of the police of Urdzhar district of East Kazakhstan region could pretend to the second place in the rating. For not prosecuting a man accused of stealing a copper wire, he received a bribe … in the form of fish worth a little over $140. For the love for seafood, the police chief not only paid for his position, but also paid a fine of $1300.

The third place in the rating, by right, should belong to the mayor of Zerendin district of Akmola region. He received three years in prison for a bribe in the form of three cows, two horses and $1800.

The head of the construction department of the city of Rudny (Kostanay region) could get into the rating. As a reward from the entrepreneur for general patronage, he chose not the money, but the crossover Nissan Qashqai (2018-2019) for $28.9 thousand.

According to investigator Bigaydarov, with the growth of the economy digitalization, the transition of corrupt officials to the system of non-cash payments is also observed.

So, according to him, this year there were cases of bribery by transfers to accounts in second-tier banks, to Internet wallets and even to account in a bookmaker, as well as replenishment of the balance of mobile communication.

“Such non-cash bribe schemes are fully identified and suppressed. The Anti-Corruption Agency is constantly studying new methods for detecting corruption through advanced digital technologies, including when using cryptocurrency as bribes,” Bigaydarov said.

He also added that over the past two years, the Anti-Corruption Agency has registered about 3000 facts of bribery.