Vice Minister Admits to Corruption Challenges in Kazakhstan's Sports, Announces Reforms

Why has corruption in domestic sports increased? Journalists posed this question to Vice Minister of Tourism and Sports Serik Zharasbayev on the sidelines of a Senate session, Orda.kz reports.

The Vice Minister agreed with the premise and spoke candidly about ongoing issues within the department. 

According to him, the Ministry of Sports is actively addressing corruption.

Unfortunately, our industry is no exception in terms of abuse of corruption factors. Last year and since the beginning of 2025, together with Antikor, the Ministry conducted an external analysis of corruption risks. There was a large final meeting with the participation of all regions and public associations,
 stated Serik Zharasbayev.

Following the review, the Ministry developed recommendations and a roadmap, which is now guiding new legislative initiatives.

To avoid such phenomena in the future, the Ministry will introduce digitalization of the sports industry – we call it 'E-Sport'. Since the end of 2024, it has been operating in three modules in pilot mode: athlete certification, a register of sports events and a competition calendar,
the Deputy Minister said. 

In 2025, the system is expected to expand to 11 modules, and by 2026, it will include transparency tools for tracking the financing of sports organizations.

I think this measure will eliminate the possibility of corruption and theft of budget funds,
said Serik Zharasbayev

Zharasbayev also shared that a new draft bill includes plans to introduce a rotation system for the heads of sports organizations and implement stricter appointment procedures.

They will be assigned KPIs for five years. If they complete them successfully, they will remain for the next term; if the results are negative, they will either be dismissed from their position or assigned to another job,
 he explained.

Earlier, Orda.kz reported on corruption within Kazakhstan’s sports sector.

Original Author: Zhadra Zhulmukhametova