Over KZT 40 bn paid by companies for environment pollution

    The Kazakh Civil Service and Anti-Corruption Agency held a teleconference meeting with participation of the MPs, representatives of interested state bodies, public and business associations on summarizing the work done in nature management and ecology area.
    During the year, the number of corruption crimes in nature management and ecology area increased in Kazakhstan, Kazpravda.kz reports.
    According to the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Accounts of the General Prosecutor's Office in the field of environmental management and ecology in 2016, 26 corruption crimes were registered. At the same time, their number has tripled in 4 months of 2017 compared to the same period last year.
    The data were announced at a meeting in the Civil Service and Anti-Corruption Agency, which also noted that corruption offenses in this area are committed during the state environmental inspections (for making decisions on positive results of inspections and not bringing to administrative responsibility), the signing of acts of state acceptance of the facility, obtaining a license, direct contact of officials with entrepreneurs, etc.
    The main causes of corruption in the sphere of natural resources and environmental protection include the inadequacy of environmental legislation, the Deputy Chairman of the Agency, Alik Shpekbayev believes.
    In 2016 the Ministry of Energy and its territorial divisions registered 5,610 administrative violations in the field of environmental protection, 92% of which were fined for a total of more than 2 billion tenge.
    It is noted that the largest amounts of fines are observed in the West Kazakhstan region - KZT578 mln., the Aktobe region - KZT458 mln., and in the Karaganda oblast - KZT448 mln.
    According to the Energy Ministry, as a result of inspections in 2016, legal entities were charged for environmental pollution totaling more than 25 billion tenge, and since the beginning of this year - over 20 billion tenge.
    Following the meeting, the Agency developed 37 recommendations on elimination of corruption risks and administrative barriers in regulatory legal acts (81%) and organizational and management activities (19%) of state bodies in environmental management and ecology area.
    Reported by the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda.