Kazakhstan Merges Anti-Corruption Agency into National Security Committee

The Anti-Corruption Agency of Kazakhstan has been reorganized and will no longer function as an independent institution, Orda.kz reports.

The change was announced on June 30, following a presidential decree signed by Qasym-Jomart Toqayev.

To establish a department of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan – the Anti-Corruption Service of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
 says the decree.

Not all responsibilities of the former agency will transfer to the new department. Some of its functions are being assigned to the Agency for Civil Service Affairs.

To transfer to the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Civil Service Affairs the functions and powers of the reorganized Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Combating Corruption (Anti-Corruption Service) for the formation and implementation of anti-corruption policy, coordination in the field of combating corruption, minimization of the causes and conditions that contribute to the commission of corruption offenses, as well as the formation of an anti-corruption culture,
 the decree specifies.

The official representative of the agency later commented during a briefing: 

Like you, I just learned about this decision. From social media. I am not authorized to comment on it. It was not made by the Anti-Corruption Committee, but by a higher-ranking official. So I cannot provide any comment,
said the official representative of the agency, Daniyar Bigaydarov.

Going forward, the National Security Committee and the State Security Service will act as the legal successors to the Anti-Corruption Agency.

The agency had existed in its most recent form since June 13, 2019.

Anti-corruption functions were previously handled by the Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption (since 2014) and, before that, by the Agency for Combating Economic and Corruption Crime, commonly known as the financial police.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin