Giving gifts to civil servants is prohibited

I would like to remind you about the inadmissibility of donating any material values to civil servants.

On October 6 of this year, Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on anti-corruption issues".

This Law is aimed at introducing additional measures for the systematic prevention of corruption.

So, one of these measures is a complete ban on gifts, material remuneration and the provision of services to civil servants and their family members for actions in favor of the donor.

Thus, the current legislation prohibits giving any valuable gifts to civil servants, depending on their official position.

What kind of punishment can

a gift made to a civil servant entail? For giving an official a gift worth less than 2 MCI (5,556 tenge):

- an individual is brought to administrative responsibility in the form of a fine in the amount of two hundred monthly calculation indices (555 thousand 600 tenge);

- a legal entity in the form of a fine in the amount of seven hundred and fifty monthly calculation indices (2 million 083 thousand 500 tenge).

And for receiving a gift, a civil servant is fined in the amount of six hundred monthly calculation indices (1 million 666 thousand 800 tenge).

A gift worth more than 2 MCI entails criminal liability in accordance with articles 366 (taking a bribe) and 367 (giving a bribe) The Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The law imposes special requirements and restrictions on civil servants when performing public service.

Disciplinary offenses discrediting the civil service are also identified, responsibility for which is provided in the form of: demotion in public office, warnings about incomplete official compliance or dismissal.

In particular, the following illegal acts on the part of civil servants are recognized as misdemeanors:

1) giving gifts and rendering off-duty services to officials in order to obtain property benefits, benefits or advantages using the official powers of these persons;

2) acceptance of gifts or services in connection with the performance of their state or equivalent functions from civil servants and other persons dependent on them in the service, for general patronage or connivance in the service.

Gifts received without the knowledge of a civil servant, as well as received by him in connection with the performance of relevant functions, are subject to a seven-day period of gratuitous delivery to a special state fund. And the services rendered to a civil servant under the same circumstances must be paid for by transferring money to the republican budget.

In addition, family members of a civil servant are not entitled to accept gifts and services, invitations to tourist, health and wellness and other trips at the expense of individuals and legal entities, both foreign and the Republic of Kazakhstan, with whom the specified person is connected by service. A civil servant is obliged to hand over gifts illegally received by his family members to a special state fund free of charge within seven days and reimburse the cost of services that his family members unlawfully used by transferring money to the republican budget.