Transparency International Kazakhstan held a conference on anti-corruption measures and Kazakhstan’s achievements, goals, problems, and perspectives of development in this area.
The International Anti-Corruption Conference, hosted by the Alatau Resort and Conference Center, took place on June 22-23 in Almaty. It was organized in collaboration with the OSCE Center in Astana, the Agency for the Fight against Economic and Corruption Crimes of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the Transparency International Secretariat under the financial support of the Delegation of the European Commission to Kazakhstan.
The Conference gathered about 65 representatives of various public offices, international organizations, non-profit civic foundations, and mass media. Specifically, managers of the Department of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Board on Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Anti-Corruption Department of the OECD, the US Embassy, the Almaty Mayor’s Office, and many other representative offices attended the meeting.
The discussion revolved around the phenomenon of public corruption in Kazakhstan, the governmental anti-corruption initiatives, and the legal aspects of the issues at stake. The public officials reported on the progress towards the realization of the State Program on Fighting Corruption for 2006-2010 and the need for further advances in implementing the related national legislation. Special attention was paid to the problem of the shadow economy, which is one of the deleterious consequences of corruption in Kazakhstan. The international experts shared their opinions on the issues of criminal liability of legal entities and protection of whistleblowers. Their experience in these particular areas opened an animated discussion among all conference participants. In addition, the subject of corruption in the informational sphere was broached. The Transparency Kazakhstan representatives disclosed the results of their research on the topic. Also, other interesting research materials were disclosed in the course of the meeting.
