Embassy of Kazakhstan

The session focused on the work of state bodies in fighting corruption during the nine months of 2007; raising the quality of anti-corruption expertise of existing and new legal acts; strengthening financial discipline in state organs and legal entities with governmental participation; and introducing criteria for rating the levels of corruption in state bodies. The Commission heard reports on the issues from Sarybai Kalmurzaev, Chairman of the Agency on the fight against economic and corruption related crimes, Zagipa Baliyeva, Minister of Justice, and Omarkhan Oksikbayev, Chairman of the Accounting Committee for control of the execution of the national budget. Sergei Zlotnikov, Executive Director of Transparency Kazakhstan, also took part in the meeting.

Opening the session, Secretary of State Saudabayev said the introduction of an effective system of anti-corruption expertise for legal acts, as well as the adoption of effective measures on strengthening financial discipline in budget expenditures will lead to a more effective fight against corruption. “We need to exclude any possibility for corruption at the drafting stage of laws and sub-law acts at both central and local levels. At the same time, we must toughen the responsibility of managers of budgetary programs for non-prescribed, and therefore illegal, use of people’s money,” Kanat Saudabayev said.

At President Nazarbayev’s instructions, the Commission adopted a decision to introduce a system of rating the levels of corruption in state bodies from January 1, 2008. The system, developed taking international experience into account, will serve as a mechanism to objectively diagnose the volumes of corruption in different areas of public interaction and take timely measures against it.

Concluding the meeting, Secretary Saudabayev said: “During the years of independence, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has been leading the fight against corruption without compromises, on a systematic and continuous basis. Our Commission, which is the President’s most important tool in this area, has today adopted major principled decisions. It is now the task of executives of government bodies of all levels to ensure these decisions are unwaveringly and effectively implemented. That will be the indicator of their civic and professional responsibility. As we implement the strategy of making Kazakhstan one of the most developed and competitive countries of the world, the President demands from all of us a qualitative improvement in state services for our citizens, and the most convincing testimony of that is the real reduction of corruption in our country.”