President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev made a statement at an operational meeting of the Security Council following the detention of the heads of the Samruk-Kazyna fund and the national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ).
According to the Head of State, this is an extremely serious signal of large-scale corruption in state-owned companies. He noted that the law does not allow details of the investigation to be disclosed, especially since it has only just begun. However, it is already clear that this is the first major corruption case in state companies since the "Law and Order" concept was enshrined in the Constitution as a principle of governance.
The President stressed that the Constitution, adopted in the March 15 referendum and in force since July 1, is rightly called the People's Constitution. "The Constitution is the Basic Law of our state, the legal passport of the people. Disregarding the Constitution and its main provisions is tantamount to discriminating against the people," he said.
Tokayev recalled that Samruk-Kazyna manages the country's strategic assets and works with major foreign companies and international financial institutions, and that every such agreement rests on Kazakhstan's commitments and the trust of the international community.
The Head of State cited figures: from 2023 to 2025, 3,168 corruption offenses were uncovered, 2,165 of them committed by civil servants and the rest by other persons, including employees of the quasi-public sector. The total amount exceeds 248 billion tenge. In the first 10 months of this year, 751 corruption offenses were recorded, 546 of them by civil servants.
"As these figures show, the corruption situation remains difficult, but we are not going to hide anything from the public," the President said. All reports of corruption by officials at any level will be checked by the Anti-Corruption Service of the National Security Committee together with the Prosecutor General's Office, with no division into "insiders" and "outsiders."
"No one, regardless of position, merits or connections, including family ties, has the right to expect exceptions from the law – this is my principled position," the Head of State stressed. He added that some agreements and contracts which, in his view, had been signed in error have already been revised.
At the same time, the President assured that the authorities do not intend to impose restrictions on business: another three-year moratorium on inspections of small businesses will start on January 1 next year.
Tokayev emphasized that the work of the Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund and state companies, including KTZ, has not stopped and continues as usual. In his view, fighting corruption should increase investor and creditor confidence in the fund.
The President recalled that the Prosecutor General's Office has recovered illegally acquired assets worth over 1.3 trillion tenge. These funds are financing the construction of 466 social and infrastructure facilities, 383 of which have been completed. He noted that there are grounds to check the quality of construction, roads above all.
The Government and oversight bodies have been instructed to submit specific proposals by November 24 to sharply reduce corruption offenses and improve the performance of the quasi-public sector. A special State Commission will oversee the proper spending of public funds; its membership will be announced early next week.
"This path will not be easy, rather a thorny one, but the road will be conquered by the one who walks it," the Head of State concluded.
