The Senate of the Oliy Majlis, at a plenary session on Thursday, approved amendments to legislation aimed at “ensuring inevitability of liability for corruption offences.”

According to the document, the Criminal Code is amended with the new term “corruption offences”. Now under this concept shall fall the crimes stipulated by:

  • New paragraph “e” of paragraph 3 of Article 167 of the Criminal Code (theft by embezzlement or misappropriation by abuse of power);
  • Article 168, paragraph 4 (d) (fraud by abuse of power)
  • Article 192−9 (commercial bribery)
  • Article 192−10 (bribery of an employee of a non-governmental commercial or other non-governmental organization)
  • New paragraph 2 (c) of article 192−11 (abuse of power for personal gain by officials of a non-governmental commercial or other non-governmental organization)
  • New article 205, paragraph 2 (c) (abuse of power or official authority for personal gain)
  • New article 206, paragraph 2 (c) (excess of power or official authority for personal gain)
  • New article 208, paragraph 2 (inaction of power or authority for personal gain)
  • New article 209, paragraph 2 (c) (“forgery in office for personal gain”)
  • Article 210 (acceptance of a bribe)
  • Article 211 (bribery);
  • Article 212 (intermediation in bribery);
  • Article 213 (bribery of an official of a public authority, an organization with State participation or a self-governing body)
  • Article 214 (unlawful obtaining of material valuables or material benefits by an official of a State body, State-owned organization or a self-governing body);
  • New article 301, paragraph 2 (b) (abuse, excess or omission of power for personal gain)
  • An offence under article 243 of the Criminal Code (legalization of proceeds of crime), committed in relation to proceeds derived from corruption offences.

In addition, penalties for corruption offences have been increased. In particular, the sanction for the offence of embezzlement by abuse of power is moved from part 2 to part 3, where the punishment is more severe. Whereas now the offence is punishable with a fine of 100 to 300 BCV or compulsory community service of up to 480 hours or correctional labour of up to 2 years or restriction of liberty of 2 to 5 years or imprisonment of up to 5 years, now a fine of 300 to 600 BCV or correctional labour of up to 3 years or imprisonment of 5 to 10 years will be provided.

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The sanction for the offence of fraud through abuse of power is also moved from Part 2 to Part 3, which provides for a more severe punishment (the maximum punishment is increased from 8 to 10 years' imprisonment).

The maximum penalty under Article 192−10 (bribery of an employee of a non-governmental commercial or other non-governmental organization) is increased from correctional labour for up to one year to restriction of freedom for up to one year or imprisonment for up to one year.

Article 208 (inaction of authorities) is supplemented with part 2 (the same actions for personal gain) which provides for penalty of a fine from 300 to 600 BCV or imprisonment from 3 to 5 years or imprisonment from 3 to 5 years with deprivation of a certain right.

The maximum penalty under Article 210, paragraph 3 (“taking a bribe on a particularly large scale or in the interests of an organized group”), Article 211, paragraph 3 (“bribing on a particularly large scale or in the interests of an organized group”), Article 212, paragraph 3 (“mediation in bribery on a particularly large scale or in the interests of an organized group”) is increased from 15 years to 20 years in prison.

To the punishment under part 1 of Article 213 (bribery of an employee of a government body, an organization with governmental participation or a self-governing body) and part 1 of Article 214 (unlawful obtaining of material valuables or material benefits by an employee of a government body, an organization with governmental participation or a self-governing body) is added a penalty of restraint of liberty up to 1 year or imprisonment up to 1 year.

For other articles in the list of corruption offences, the phrase “for personal gain” is added.

In addition, persons convicted of theft by embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion or other mandatory payments and who have not fully compensated for the damage caused by the crime, as well as those who have committed such crimes as taking a bribe, bribery, mediation in bribery, are now not subject to such rules as parole and commutation of the sentence to a lesser one.

The senators noted that the introduced amendments serve for the specific definition of corruption offences and development of systemic measures to counteract these types of crimes, prevention of corruption offences, establishment of fair punishment for perpetrators of corruption offences, as well as reliable protection of the rights and interests of victims as a result of the crime.

Tanzila Narbayeva, Chairwoman of the Senate, speaking at the meeting, underlined that every crime of corruption, in its essence, causes damage to a very large number of people. She also noted the importance of active public control and strict laws in combating these crimes.