Astana, April 24, House of the Mazhilis. The Mazhilis has begun work on a draft law on further decriminalization of economic offenses and countering the legalization of illegally obtained income and the financing of terrorism and related amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses. The presentation of the projects took place today at the Committee on Legislation and Judicial and Legal Reform, chaired by Snezhanna Imasheva.

The bills initiated by parliamentarians are aimed at protecting the rights of citizens and the business community in criminal proceedings. The working group in the Mazhilis was headed by Deputy Abzal Kuspan. He said that the amendments were developed in accordance with the instructions of the Head of State to determine a fair mechanism for bringing to criminal responsibility for crimes in the field of economic activity for further decriminalization of economic offenses.

It is proposed to completely decriminalize two articles of the Criminal Code: 219 (Illegal receipt of a loan or misuse of a budget loan) and 241 (Violation of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on accounting and financial reporting). According to the second article, the norms will be transferred to the category of administrative responsibility and will supplement article 239 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

– Partial decriminalization affected customs offenses under articles 234 (Economic smuggling) and 236 (Evasion of customs duties, customs duties, taxes, special, anti-dumping, countervailing duties) The Criminal Code. The amendments propose to raise the thresholds for criminal liability, decriminalizing the qualifying sign of committing offenses on a large scale, while providing for liability in article 551 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, - said Abzal Kuspan.

In order to ensure the rights of business, the draft law provides for a number of exceptions for the registration of cases in the field of tax crimes (Article 179 of the CPC). Cases will not be subject to registration without an act or conclusion indicating the presence of signs of a criminal offense, as well as when appealing acts to a higher authority or in court and with full voluntary repayment of accrued taxes.

The goals and objectives, principles of legislation on countering the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism are also established.

The proposals of the deputies made during the discussion will be considered during further work on draft laws within the framework of the working group.

The press service of the Mazhilis - 24-38-22. Photo by T. Tanybaev