Kazakh leader declares war on corrupton
01:18 p.m Jul 10, 1998 Eastern
By Dmitry Solovyov
ASTANA, July 10 (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev, showing concern for his administration's image
amid allegations of widespread corruption, launched a
campaign on Friday to eradicate graft.
''The most important thing today is to strike at corruption,''
Nazarbayev told an extraordinary meeting of the former Soviet
state's Security Council, held in the new capital Astana.
''I am talking not about repression but about regaining trust in
the state power structures,'' he said. ''We must show our
people we can improve our image and change their view of
us.''
Glancing at his ministers, Nazarbayev added: ''This is a
warning to all those present.''
Corruption, bureaucracy and nepotism have become a scourge
for Kazakhstan, a resource-rich Central Asian state of 16
million, where young political newcomers have quickly
adopted Soviet-era habits.
A vast country with ample reserves of oil, gas and metals,
Kazakhstan has attracted billions of dollars in direct foreign
investments. But many potential investors fear local
corruption.
Demonstrating his public fervour to fight corruption,
Nazarbayev ordered the sacking of several transport ministry
officials who had been travelling free by air.
The case of Transport Minister Yerkin Kaliyev, accused of the
same misdemeanour, will be passed to the presidential
Supreme Disciplinary Commission which judges the ethics of
state officials, Nazarbayev said.
However, he made no mention of the posh villas and sleek
limousines owned by many Kazakh bureaucrats whose official
salaries run only into the hundreds of dollars a month.
Alnur Musayev, chairman of the National Security Committee
which is the successor to the Soviet-era KGB secret police,
told the council that misappropriating natural resources,
foreign investment funds and loans were the main targets of
corrupt officials. Straightforward bribe-taking was another.
Musayev's agency has launched more than 300 criminal cases
against officials, policemen, judges and even public
prosecutors, but he complained that very often those involved
in corruption were protected by senior government figures.
Some examples of friends in high places are almost comic.
Two years in jail for vagrancy and a course of forcible
treatment for alcoholism proved no obstacle for one man in the
the western oil-rich Atyrau region to be made head of the local
tax inspectorate, Musayev said.
Judges often refuse to consider criminal cases against their
colleagues, he added.
Nazarbayev, whose son-in-law heads the national tax
inspectorate and whose daughter runs the main television
channel, said he would eradicate misuse of personal
connections.
''I will make a nationwide address to all my friends and
people with whom I worked once -- there will be no
exceptions for anyone,'' he said.
Nazarbayev said security bodies would check thoroughly the
qualifications and experience of applicants for state jobs.
Pledging a ruthless fight against graft, he ordered the
government to create within one month a special state fund to
take over assets confiscated from corrupt bureaucrats.
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