Analytical report on conducting an internal analysis of the risks of corruption of the SRD of EKR
«Agreed»
Head of the SRD of EKR
_____________Bimagambetov S.S.
«___»___________2023
Analytical report on conducting an internal analysis of the risks of corruption of the SRD of EKR
Ust-Kamenogorsk city 23.06.2023
I.Introduction
Working group of the State Revenue Department of East -Kazakhstan region (hereinafter - the Department) conducted an internal analysis of risks of corruption in the activities of the structural divisions of the Department based on the order of the head of the SRD of EKR dated 04/20/2023 No. 91.
In accordance with the model rules, the internal analysis of risks of corruption of the Department was carried out in the following areas:
Identification of corruption risks in regulatory legal acts affecting of the SRD of EKR.
Identification of corruption risks in organizational and administrative activities of the Department and its territorial divisions.
Regulatory legal acts affecting the activities of the division identify discretionary powers and standards facilitating the commission of corruption offences.
Internal analysis of corruption risks was conducted in the period from 01.05.2022 to 01.05.2023.
The analysis of corruption risks was conducted by the working group, while independent experts (specialists) were not involved.
Identification of corruption risks in the organizational and administrative activities of the Department and its territorial divisions was carried out on the following topics:
1) human resource management, including identification of positions subject to corruption risks;
2) resolving conflicts of interest;
3) provision of public services;
4) regulatory powers;
5) oversight and auditing functions;
6) development and distribution of budgetary and financial resources;
7) signing of contracts with individuals and legal entities;
8) development and operation of information systems;
9) other issues arising from the organizational and administrative activities of the object of analysis.
II.Descriptive part
1.Human resource management, including identification of positions subject to corruption risks
The internal analysis of organizational and administrative activities showed that human resource management in the SRD of EKR and its territorial divisions is carried out in accordance with the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Public Service in the Republic of Kazakhstan", "On Combating Corruption", as well as other laws and subordinate regulatory legal acts.
The total staff of the state revenue bodies of the region as of 01.05.2023 is 484 persons (the actual number is 467 persons), including Department's - 244 persons (the actual number is 236 persons), territorial state revenue bodies - 240 persons (the actual number is 231 persons).
For the period from May 01, 2022 to May 01, 2023, 25 people have changed in the state revenue bodies of the region (in the Department – 10 people, territory - 15 people), including 4 people due to mobility within the state body, 1 person was dismissed in connection with the transition to another state body, net staff turnover is 20 people (20 of whom have other reasons).
In the period from May 01, 2022 to May 01, 2023, 56 officials were brought to disciplinary responsibility.
Offences discrediting the civil service for the period from 01.05.2022 to 01.05.2023 have not been identified.
In July 2022, 2 officials were brought to disciplinary responsibility for violations of the standards of the Ethics Code of civil servants.
The study of the processes of passing public service in the SRD of EKR and its territorial divisions (organizing competitions for recruitment, imposing disciplinary penalties, retraining and advanced training, mentoring, etc.) showed that they generally comply with the established requirements of the legislation on public service
In the course of the conducted analysis on human resource management issues, corruption risks were not identified in the activities of the Department.
2.Resolving conflicts of interest
Ethical control in the public service is an important mechanism for the prevention of corruption, violation of the service ethics and 2 resolving conflicts of interest.
This was facilitated by the introduction of Institution of ethics commissioners, which led to the further formation of conditions for higher discipline and responsibility of civil servants, as well as an additional mechanism for combating corruption.
In the Department, the functions of the Ethics Commissioner are assigned to the Deputy Head of the Department.
During the analysis of the activities of the Ethics Commissioner for the period from May 01, 2022 to May 01, 2023, it was established that the Ethics Commissioner of the Department carried out work within the objectives and functions imposed by the Regulation on the Ethics Commissioner approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan No.153 dated December 29, 2015 (hereinafter - the Regulation) during the reporting period. Regarding the identification of a conflict of interest, no written appeals about perceived conflicts of interest or the possibility of its occurrence have been revealed according to the submitted quarterly reports.
In accordance with subpara. 9, p 4 of the Regulation, the Ethics Commissioner is obliged to interact with civil society institutions and state bodies in order to prevent and prohibit the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the areas of public service, anti-corruption and the Code of Ethics, as well as formation of a positive image of the public service.
Thus, the Ethics Commissioner of the Department is working to explain the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the public service, prevention of corruption, the Code of Ethics.
The Ethics Commissioner of the Department carries out personal reception of citizens to the schedule of reception of individuals, representatives of legal entities posted on the internet resource of the Departement, which corresponds to paragraph 9 of Section 3 of the Regulations.
Ethics Commissioner of the Department held 2 meetings, posted 2 articles on the internet resource of the Department for the period from May 01, 2022 to May 01, 2023.
In the period from May 01, 2022 to May 01, 2023, the Ethics Commissioner of the Department conducted a survey of 291 employees of state revenue bodies.
The analysis has shown the transparency of the activities of the Ethics Commissioner of the Department.
No corruption risks have been identified in the Department's activities regarding resolving conflicts of interest.
3.Provision of public services
The Department provided 997,766 public services in the period from May 01, 2022 to May 01, 2023, including 641,737 for individuals and 356,029 for legal entities. The number of services in electronic form is 989,563 or 99.2%, on paper is 8,203 or 0.8%.
During the analysis, it was found that public services provided on paper comply with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
For example, one of the public services provided by the Department is "Issuance of a license for the storage and retail sale of alcoholic beverages, with the exception of activities for the storage and retail sale of alcoholic products in the territory of its production."
Thus, in order to obtain a license for the storage and retail sale of alcoholic beverages, with the exception of activities for the storage and retail sale of alcoholic products in the territory of its production, the applicant provides the necessary documents.
In the period from May 1, 2022 to May 1, 2023, the Department issued 509 licenses for the storage and retail sale of alcoholic beverages and 21 licenses for the storage and wholesale sale of alcoholic beverages.
In addition, there were no reasoned refusal for to further consider the application not complying with qualification requirements during this period.
During the analysis, it was found that the license is issued through the E-Government web portal www.egov.kz in the e-license application, excluding direct contact between the licensee and the service provider. The provision of the service in electronic form excludes the occurrence of corruption risks.
Corruption risks were not identified during the internal analysis of corruption risks on the provision of public services in the activities of the department.
4.Regulatory powers
During the internal analysis of corruption risks on the implementation of regulatory powers in the activities of the Department, corruption risks were not identified.
5.Oversight and auditing functions
The sanction of Article 524 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offenses (hereinafter - the Administrative Code) provides for administrative liability for non-informing the state revenue authority about arrival when importing goods into the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union at failure of documents in accordance with the customs legislation of the Eurasian Economic Union and (or) the Republic of Kazakhstan, which entails a fine in the amount of five for individuals, in the amount of ten for small businesses or non-profit organizations, in the amount of fifteen for medium–sized businesses, in the amount of twenty five monthly calculation indices for large businesses.
In order to bring a carrier in the face of a foreign legal entity to administrative responsibility, it is required to establish its subjectivity of entrepreneurship, which is problematic in view of the fact that under the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan it is impossible to determine the subjectivity of a foreign legal entity, and under the national legislation of the country of the carrier's origin, subjectivity may not be provided for.
In view of a legal deficiency, there is a corruption risk when making a decision regarding the sanction, at the discretion of the official imposing an administrative penalty.
To exclude corruption risks, it is necessary to add an administrative sanction in form of a penalty to the sanction of article for foreign legal entities, regardless of the category of business entity.
According to the response of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter - the Committee) No. SRC-10-3-14/29190- The MCC of 13.06.2023, it follows that the Committee, when selectively reviewing cases in the INIS under Article 524 of the Administrative Code, found that today the practice of holding legal persons liable is different in the republic, territorial state revenue bodies bring them as a subject of small, medium and large businesses.
At the same time, we note that to amend the current legislation, it is necessary to conduct an analysis of the regulatory impact provided for by the Entrepreneurial Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter - the Code).
According to paragraph 1 of Article 83 of the Code, analysis of the regulatory impact is an analytical procedure for comparing the benefits and costs of the regulatory instrument introduced and its associated requirements, allowing to evaluate the achievement of the objectives of government regulation in the future.
In turn, paragraph 1 of Article 82 of the Code defines that analyzing the regulatory impact is a prerequisite for the introduction of a new regulatory tool or regulatory tightening.
Thus, the Committee considers it expedient to make changes to the Administrative Code under the above article with an analysis of the regulatory impact. Approximate amending to Article 524 of the Administrative Code is 2025.
6.Development and distribution of budgetary and financial resources в
During the internal analysis of corruption risks on the development and distribution of budgetary and financial resources, corruption risks were not identified in the activities of the Department.
7.Signing of contracts with individuals and legal entities
During the internal analysis of corruption risks on the issues of signing of contracts with individuals and legal entities, corruption risks were not identified in the activities of the Department.
8.development and operation of information systems
During the internal analysis of corruption risks on the issues of development and operation of information systems corruption risks were not identified in the activities of the Department.
9. Other issues arising from the organizational and administrative activities of the object of analysis (collection of taxes and other payments)
In accordance with subparagraph 7) of paragraph 1 of Article 118 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On taxes and other obligatory payments to the budget" (hereinafter - the Tax Code), effective from 2023, in case of a decision to declare the notification not executed (hereinafter - the Decision) in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 96 of the Tax Code, the suspension of debit operations on banking accounts of the taxpayer is not made.
For reference:
In pursuance of the notification No. 18032L200124 dated 12/26/2022, the taxpayer submitted the ATRF dated 01/16/2023 and based on the results of the analysis conducted on 01/18/2023, a "decision to recognize the notification as not executed" with the further formation of the RPRO dated 02/23/2023. This RPRO was erroneously formed, that was withdrawn on 03/09/2023.
Due to established pattern for the formation in the Information system Register of results of cameral control (hereinafter - the IS RRCC), suspension of withdrawals of the taxpayer is made by a specialist (executor) entrusted with the responsibility for the specified notification, independently, without coordination in the system with the direct supervisor, by clicking the "Generate RPRO" functionality in the RRCC, which leads to automatic blocking of accounts through the IS INIS of the Republic of Kazakhstan by sending orders to second-tier banks in an automatic mode. Similarly, withdrawal of a previously formed RPRO is made by a specialist (performer) independently.
Based on the above, in order to avoid corruption risks, create groundless barriers for business, we propose to make changes to the functionality of the RRCC system in terms of making changes to the mandatory binding agreement of the suspension of expenditure transactions on taxpayers' bank accounts (and (or) withdrawal) that have not executed the notification of cameral control by the deputy head of the State Revenue Office (hereinafter - the SRO) or in those SROs, where there is no position of deputy head of the SRO, to coordinate the formation (withdrawal) of the RPRO by the head of the SRO.
The presence of the above innovation will strengthen the responsibility of officials of state revenue bodies and reduce the risk of non-compliance with the requirements of the current tax legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan when forming the RPRO.
According to the response of the Committee No. SRC-13-3-12/26731- MCC dated 07.06.2023 this offer is supported.
As part of the implementation of ISNA for 2023-2024, this task is laid out.
This software is currently being developed.
For reference:
Implementation to read as follows.
The system should automatically send a request to the "Charging" module for the formation of the RPRO in case of non-execution of the CC notification. In this case, the notification shall be not executed if there is no response from the taxpayer, i.e., there is no explanation provided or the ATRF.
The automatic formation of PRPO withdrawal will be carried out if there is a signed report on confirmation / non-confirmation of the CC results, in the presence of a sent Decision, in the presence of an electronic explanation.
The system should provide the user with the ability to manually generate requests for the formation and withdrawal of a RPRO with an indication of the reason for the withdrawal (notification is withdrawn, etc.). Manual formation of requests is sent to the "Charging" module after the approval and signing of the request by users with rights to approve and sign in the system.
The letter of the Committee No. SRC-06-2-15/3515- and dated 05.04.2023 noted that if there are facts of corruption offenses during the period covered by the internal analysis of corruption risks, it is necessary to assess the work processes for which there was involvement of law enforcement organizations.
The Investigative Department of the Anti-Corruption Agency of East - Kazakhstan Region is investigating a criminal case No. 236300131000023 dated 12.05.2023, registered at the request of one of IEs in Ust-Kamenogorsk city in relation to the former chief specialist of the SRO division in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk (hereinafter- the Office) of the Department under part 3 of paragraph 4 of Article 366 of Kazakhstan's Criminal Code (the fact of extorting a bribe).
In order to identify and suppress taxpayers carrying out activities without the use of a cash register, a pilot project "Civil control-demand a check" was introduced by order of the Committee.
In pursuance of the order of the Department No.MKD-08-3/10320 dated 06/09/2022 regarding the procedure for the use of a cash register machine and (or) equipment (devices) intended for accepting payments, the chief specialist of the Department compiled administrative material under Part 1 of Article 284 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan for violation of "Non-application of a cash register machine" in respect of one of the individual entrepreneurs in one of the shops located in Ust-Kamenogorsk city, Potanin street with the imposition of an administrative penalty in the form of "warning".
According to information from the Anti-Corruption Service of the East - Kazakhstan region, the former chief specialist of the office at the end of January 2023 met the individual entrepreneur and during the conversation the latter asked about permission to sell alcoholic beverages at night in one of the shops located in Ust-Kamenogorsk city, Shakarim Avenue. Later, an official of the office replied to the individual entrepreneur that he would be able to grant her a permission.
While the issue of granting permission for the sale of alcoholic beverages at night is not within the competence of the state revenue authorities.
Consequently, an official of the office being a civil servant, fraudulently misled the taxpayer in order to gain benefits.
Head of Internal Investigations
Department. Т. Beisekenov