Why Authorities Can't Simply Seize Assets Abroad – Anticorruption Agency Explains

Kazakhstan’s Anti-Corruption Agency has clarified why authorities cannot confiscate foreign assets, Orda.kz reports.

Speaking at a Senate briefing, Deputy Chair Darkhan Kurakbayev addressed the issue, referencing an investigation by Radio Azattyq, which revealed Kazakhstan's elites owning luxury real estate in Dubai.

The report identified prominent figures, including relatives of Nursultan Nazarbayev, linked to mansions, villas, and high-end apartments. The investigation found that around 1,500 Kazakhstanis own 2,700 properties in Dubai, collectively valued at over $1 billion.

However, Kurakbayev emphasized that Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies can only reclaim assets through criminal investigations.

If a person is accused of embezzling budget funds (or, let's say, he systematically took bribes, was implicated in other offenses), then the relevant structures are involved. This happens if we are talking about real estate or other objects acquired with criminal proceeds (either in Kazakhstan or abroad). Only in this case the procedure for returning assets is launched. To do this, it is necessary to establish that the person committed a crime - stole money or took a bribe. This all happens within the framework of criminal law,
Darkhan Kurakbayev said.

Kurakbayev clarified that owning property abroad, no matter how extravagant, does not automatically justify asset seizure unless proven to have been acquired illegally.

Original Author: Ilya Astakhov