For whom will the punishment for corruption in Kazakhstan be toughened

Tengrinews.kz - The responsibility for committing corruption crimes will be toughened, but not for everyone in Kazakhstan.

The draft law on combating corruption proposes to increase the responsibility of legal entities for such offenses.

As reported by the first deputy chairman of the Anti-Corruption Agency Ulan Sarkulov, currently in Kazakhstan there is administrative liability of legal entities under Article 678 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) for providing remuneration to officials. A fine of 750 MCI (2.9 million tenge in 2025) is provided for this.

"Taking into account international standards, a new version of this article of the Code of Administrative Offenses has been developed, providing for the disposition and sanctions in the form of multiple fines by analogy with Article 367 of the Criminal Code ("Giving a bribe"). The fine will be from 30 to 60 times the amount of the material reward (bribe - ed.), provided on behalf of or in the interests of a legal entity, depending on the amount of the reward," Sarkulov said at a plenary session of the Mazhilis.

In addition, the bill provides for amendments based on the results of law enforcement practice. In particular, it’s about:

• establishing administrative liability for employees of special and law enforcement agencies for committing administrative corruption offenses (currently only disciplinary liability is provided for this);
• strengthening the administrative liability of civil servants and persons equivalent to them for illegal interference in entrepreneurial activity;
• restricting further promotion of persons who have committed corruption crimes and who were hired into the civil service before the introduction of a legislative ban on hiring corrupt officials (before 2005).

"In essence, these norms are new to Kazakhstani legislation and we consider them to be breakthrough, which, after approval and entry into force, will ultimately lead to a significant reduction in the level of corruption and will have a positive effect on the development of the country as a whole," added Ulan Sarkulov.

Earlier it was reported that the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan is being supplemented with a new article, which will provide for liability for the illegal provision of remuneration.