Kazakhstan returns illegally acquired assets worth over KZT1tn since 2022

The Anti-Corruption Agency’s official spokesperson Daniyar Bigaidarov said that of these, 670 million US dollars (over 300 billion tenge) were returned from abroad, including from Austria, Liechtenstein, the UAE and Türkiye.

He said: “The work to reclaim illegally acquired funds and properties is underway within the country and beyond”.

Cooperation was set up with the financial intelligence unit of the Financial Monitoring Agency and international partners. Informal communication channels such as GlobE, CARIN, ARIN and others are used to promptly detect and recover assets, said Bigaidarov. 

The Agency’s spokesperson pointed out that a financial investigation involves tracing assets transferred to relatives of those suspected, trustees and nominees, who usually fail to prove the origin of properties and funds to purchase them, as their official incomes are significantly lower.

The Anti-Corruption Agency works closely with the Asset Recovery Committee of the General Prosecutor’s Office as well as law-enforcement agencies, including foreign ones, to identify beneficial owners of assets and obtain necessary data and evidence.

Over 5 billion tenge as well as jewelries and properties was returned to the state as part of the joint work with the Asset Recovery Committee, said Bigaidarov.

Earlier it was reported that Kazakhstan had recovered assets worth 610 billion tenge.