Kazakhstan Seizes Assets Worth $684.6 Million in Half-Year Period
Kazakhstan Recovers $684.6 Million in Assets in 2024
In a recent article published in the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper on July 31, Prosecutor General Berik Asylov revealed that Kazakhstan has successfully returned assets totaling 325 billion tenge (US$684.6 million) in 2024.
The Asset Recovery Committee made significant progress in seizing illegally acquired land plots, totaling 513,000 hectares. One notable achievement was the court granting the committee’s claim for unexplained wealth valued at 5.5 billion tenge (US$11.5 million) and the return of jewelry and cultural valuables worth 400 million tenge (US$842,625).
Asylov highlighted that the recovered assets are being allocated towards the country’s social and economic development. By transferring properties to state ownership, monopolies in specific sectors have been eliminated, leading to improvements in service quality and capacity. For example, the transfer of a transport and logistics center in the Zhetysu Region has enhanced services for entrepreneurs on the Kazakh-Chinese border and increased a critical storage warehouse’s capacity sixfold.
Confiscated lands in various regions, including Almaty, Akmola, and Turkistan, have been repurposed to support livestock grazing and farming needs, addressing pasture shortages. Additionally, a range of properties such as hotels, office buildings, restaurants, and expensive jewelry have been returned to state ownership.
Despite these successes, Asylov acknowledged that there is still much work to be done. The Asset Recovery Committee is currently analyzing hundreds of movable and immovable property objects in Kazakhstan and abroad. They are investigating the origins of securities, suspicious banking transactions, and large deposits to ensure the legality of asset sources.
To enhance their efforts in combating corruption, Kazakhstan has joined the global anti-corruption operational network GlobE and established a communication channel through Threema for information exchange. Additionally, an agreement with Presight, part of the G-42 corporation, has been signed to launch an analytical platform for identifying illicit asset withdrawals.
Overall, Kazakhstan’s efforts in asset recovery and anti-corruption measures demonstrate a commitment to promoting transparency and accountability in the country’s economic development.
