Kazakhstan's asset recovery efforts presented in Vienna

Vienna, 15 April 2024 - As part of a working visit to Austria, Mr. Nurdaulet Suindikov, Chairman of the Asset Recovery Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, participated in a meeting of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Committee on “Challenges and Opportunities in Fighting Corruption and Promoting Asset Recovery through Effective Use of Digital Tools”.

The Head of the Office presented the Law on the Return of Illegally Acquired Assets to the State and the work of the Asset Recovery Committee.

Stressing the significant contribution of the OSCE, he provided information on achievements in international legal cooperation in the search, collection, processing, and analysis of information on the origin of assets and on capacity building of the Committee's staff.

In the margins of the event, a meeting was held with Bakyt Dzhussupov, Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, and Alena Kupchina, Co-ordinator of OSCE Activities to Address Transnational Threats. The sides discussed topical issues related to ensuring asset recovery, including the possibilities of implementing a comprehensive project in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

Mr. Suindikov held several meetings at the United Nations Office at Vienna. During the meeting with the Coordinator of the UNODC Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Agencies (GlobE), Rositsa Zaharieva, they discussed the future cooperation between the Committee and the GlobE Secretariat as the Committee is a new member of the Network.

The delegate of Kazakhstan thanked the Committee for the assistance provided in joining the Network and suggested holding joint events on the Network site and conducting the GlobE training workshops and sessions on the successful experiences of member countries in the field of asset recovery.

During a meeting with Senior Adviser Tim Steele and the Coordinator of the UNODC Open-ended Working Group on Asset Recovery Sophie Meingast, the parties discussed the importance of close cooperation within the framework of the UNODC-World Bank Initiative on the Return of Stolen Assets (StaR Initiative). They also noted the importance of the Committee 's active participation in the meetings of the UNODC WG on asset recovery.