Members of the Majilis approved in the first reading the draft Law on the decriminalization of economic offenses and the prevention of money laundering obtained through illegal means and the financing of terrorism during a plenary session on May 22.
The draft law was presented by deputy of the Majilis and member of the Committee on Legislation and Judicial-Legal Reform, Abzal Kuspan. He noted that the document was prepared at the initiative of a group of Majilis Senate deputies in fulfillment of the President's Address.
The proposed draft law decriminalizes four articles of the Criminal Code and introduces amendments to Article 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The two articles subject to complete decriminalization are:
- Article 219 of the Criminal Code ("Illegal receipt of a loan or non-targeted use of a budget loan");
- Article 241 of the Criminal Code ("Violation of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on accounting and financial reporting") is transferred to Part 6 of Article 239 of the Administrative Code, which currently only provides for the administrative liability of legal entities. An amendment is introduced to include a provision for individuals.
Two articles are partially decriminalized:
- Article 234 of the Criminal Code ("Economic smuggling") is reclassified under Article 551 of the Criminal Code.
- Article 236 of the Criminal Code ("Evasion of payment of customs duties, customs fees, taxes, special, anti-dumping, compensatory duties").
"In Article 551 of the Administrative Code, it is proposed to raise the threshold of criminal liability, removing the criminal nature, qualifying signs of offenses in large amounts. In other words, the starting threshold of criminal liability is increased to a very large sum. According to Article 234 of the Criminal Code, the limit has been raised from 10,000 to 20,000 MCI, and for Article 236 of the Criminal Code – from 5,000 to 10,000 MCI," he added.
Additionally, Abzal Kuspan mentioned that as part of the introduction of a fair mechanism for criminal prosecution for tax crimes, it is recommended to supplement Article 179 of the Criminal Procedure Code with point 3:
- without the corresponding act or without a conclusion in the presence of sufficient data indicating the signs of a criminal offense;
- when appealing acts to a higher authority or to court;
- with full voluntary payment of the calculated amounts of taxes (except in cases where settlements were made for transactions without actual performance of work, without provision of services, without loading and unloading of goods, without submission of a declaration).
He emphasized that due to the decriminalization of Articles 219, 241, 134, and 236 of the Criminal Code, Article 3 of the Criminal Code, Articles 32 and 187 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and Articles 720, 722, and 804 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been brought into line.
"The draft law is aimed at protecting the rights of citizens and the business community in criminal proceedings taking into account practical application, international standards requirements, FATF recommendations, as well as statistical data on registered criminal cases and cases referred to court. Today, all permanent committees of the Majilis have given positive opinions on the proposed law," summarized the deputy.
During the plenary session, the Members of the Majilis also took up the bill on housing and communal services with accompanying amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, as well as the Tax and Other Mandatory Payments Code.
