Regional state authorities deceive entrepreneurs or abuse their trust, thus inflicting damage to property

This was discussed at the next, fifth meeting of the Council on anti-corruption and combating the shadow economy NCE RK "Atameken" held under the leadership of Chairman of the Board, a deputy of the Mazhilis Azat Peruashev.

The meeting began with the viewing of videos in which businessmen from across the country spoke about the enormous damage done to their businesses due to the execution of court decisions, and not only. For example, the director of LLP "Zyryan-Sapa" from the town of Zyryanovsk of the East Kazakhstan region Azat Turetaev said that his company, which in the spring of this year at the request of the Akimat got engaged in liquidation of consequences of floods in the area, as a result of not receiving payment for completed work and, consequently, incurred substantial losses. As it turned out, the city administration of Zyryanovsk district didn’t conclud an agreement with the company, and, accordingly, they haven’t signed an act of completed works. Based on the estimates issued by the Akimat, LLP, in turn, attracted to the work subcontractors, who are now demanding payment for services rendered and intend to apply to the court. The debt to the company is 68 million tenge. Moreover, in view of the situation, LLP "Zyryan-Sapa" has failed to pay taxes and pay salaries to employees.

For technical support, the company appealed to the Chamber of entrepreneurs for assistance in getting debt from Akimat for performed work, and then pay off to its debtors.

"Misleading LLP, Akimat of Zyryanovsk District of EKR caused property damage, not only to LLP "Zyryan-Sapa" in the amount of 68 million tenge for the performed work, but also to LLP" Plus "in the amount of 89 million tenge, PC "Experiment "in the amount of 60 million tenge, LLP "Color" in the amount of 30 million tenge", - commented on the situation the director of the Department of Legal Protection of entrepreneurs NCE RK "Atameken" Oleg Savelenko.

LLP "Altaystroy" also suffered from the actions of local state authorities of the same region, which three years ago started the construction of an athletic arena, as a result it didn’t receive payment for the performed work. The agreement was signed with the city fund "Kasietі-Birlik", which later turned out to be insolvent, and later the department of construction of Ust-Kamenogorsk and the Oblast Charitable Foundation "Paryz" took over the functions, which paid for construction of the athletic arena. Cost of the project 815 million tenge was identified approximately, as at the time of construction not all documents were ready. The construction was carried out upon receipt of individual drawings and construction estimate documentation, which according to Kumas Urunthai, director of "Altaystroy" despite constant changes and a lot of shortcomings, was carried out without interruption. Without going into details, as a result of the deceit, the construction company did not receive money for its work. Today, LLP is unable to pay debts to suppliers and subcontractors, it has slowed the pace of construction of social facilities, the company is forced to cut workers, engineers and technical staff.

Other construction companies of the East Kazakhstan region are in a similar situation - JSC "Vostokshahtstroy" that concluded the contract with the department of architecture, urban planning and construction of the akimat of the town Ridder and built water-supply facility from an underground source. However, the work has’t been paid as well.

As it was noted by the members of the Council on anti-corruption and combating the shadow economy of NCE RK, similar problems are faced by regional have systemic character. Thus, LLP "Kurylysekspertproekt" from Karaganda complained on the actions of state agencies, which three years ago, signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health and Social Development, it has committed to build a multi-disciplinary hospital. Everything was all right, except for the problem with the harmonization of the list of medical equipment that was not approved by the customer for two years. As a result, a construction company based on the fact that the period of construction has expired according to the contract, didn’t receive payment for the performed work.

Commenting on the above-mentioned cases, a member of the Council on Anti-Corruption and Combating the shadow economy NCE RK Meruert Kazbekova stated that it is "cheating at a high level".

"It has a mass character, it is a trend. It's no secret that businesses in areas often do not have the capacity to resist the actions of officials. NCE must take the action! "- said M.Kazbekova.

The chairman of the Council on anti-corruption and combating the shadow economy NCE RK Azat Peruashev expressed solidarity with her. He said that the problem has a systemic character. According to him, state authorities often view business as an opportunity to relay their duties on others.

"The question is in principle. Either we respect private enterprises, businessmen, or we put pressure on them, so they do work, but as for payment, maybe someday we will pay", - Peruashev explained the actions of officials.

According to him, the state authorities are using workarounds, not to comply with public procurement rules.

"They make letters, documents saying that they will do, while they themselves knowingly cast doubt on the procurement procedures. So, they promise to do something that in theory remains unclear. How do they know who will [participate in the tender?  That is, they say in advance that they do not intend to carry out their duties, those standards are prescribed by law on public procurement. I think that is a big issue not only for the proceedings from the point of view of protection of entrepreneurs, but also from the standpoint of observation of laws and RIA by civil servants", - summed up the head of the Council.

In this regard, Azat Peruashev recommended NCE RK apply to the Agency for civil service and combating corruption, and the Economic Investigation Committee of the State Revenue of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan to organize a check for legitimacy of actions of the state officials in local executive bodies, which caused property damage to businesses by fraud and breach of trust .

Also, in order to protect the rights of entrepreneurs, RCE should sent information on cases of property damage by similar methods, without waiting for the decision of the Anti Corruption Council of NCE RK to the appropriate state authorities to initiate criminal proceedings and investigations.

Chambers of entrepreneurs of EKR, Karaganda, South-Kazakhstan and Akmola regions were recommended to continue work on the legal protection of entrepreneurs affected by the actions of government agencies.