KAZAKHSTAN: INL QUARTERLY MEETING WITH GOK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ALMATY 004352

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR INL PRAHAR, MCCOWAN, AND HOOKER; EUR/ACE (MLONGI);
G/TIP (MHALL); EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR ASEC KCRM PREL KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: INL QUARTERLY MEETING WITH GOK
OFFICIALS IN ASTANA


1. (SBU) Summary: INL officer met with representatives from
the Agency on Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption,
Prosecutor General's Office, Border Guard Service of the
Committee for National Security, Committee for Combating
Narcotics of the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry
of Justice, November 22 and November 23 in Astana to discuss
the progress of ongoing and future AML programs, especially
the establishment of the FIU, anti-TIP collaboration,
counter-narcotics interdiction efforts and border security.
The meetings were fruitful and productive, although engaging
with the Border Guards is a lengthy and laborious process
because they are part of the Committee of National Security,
and the Procurator General's office is dragging its feet on
providing promised criminal statistics. End Summary.

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ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING
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2. (U) Mr. Serik Baimagambetov, Deputy Chairman of the
Agency on Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption
(Financial Police) did not have any specific requests for
new joint anti-money laundering activities. He suggested
that INL continue its anti-money laundering program through
the Financial Police Academy in Astana since the Academy
specializes in training future financial police and customs
officers to recognize and investigate money laundering, as
well as to combat corruption and other economic crimes. The
Deputy Chairman thanked INL for equipping the computer
laboratory of the Financial Police Academy in Astana in
March 2005. (Note: The assistance to the Financial Police
Academy in Astana is part of INL's larger anti-money
laundering program, which includes working with the
Prosecutor General's Office on the passage of an anti-money
laundering law and the establishment of a Financial
Investigative Unit, or FIU.)


3. (U) Mr. Serik Temirbulatov, the Head of the Central
Apparatus of the Procurator General's Office, outlining the
plans and structure for the future FIU, said it will be
named the "Committee on Financial Monitoring." According to
Temirbulatov, the PGO received funding for 60 employees who
will work at the central FIU in Astana and for another 30
employees who will work in the regions. The FIU cadres will
be chosen from existing prosecutors as well as from
elsewhere in the government, including the Financial Police,
and Customs. He also said there is a plan to establish a
separate restricted access FIU building in Astana. In the
interim, however, the FIU will be located in the PGO's
building in Astana.


5. (U) According to the new AML law, all banks will be
legally required to send information on all suspicious
transactions to the FIU for analysis as early as January

2006. To address the needs of the future FIU staff, the PGO
requested INL to provide the FIU with technical assistance,
training and an opportunity to visit and existing FIU in
order to gain first hand knowledge of how FIUs operate
within a Procurator's Office, suggesting possible venues in
Cyprus, Denmark, Latvia, or Luxemburg.


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COUNTER-NARCOTICS
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6. (SBU) During the meeting with Sergey Tulubaev, Deputy
Head of the BG's Main Department, INL discussed the proposed
equipment for the Merke and Novovoskresenovka posts on the
Kyrgyz-Kazakhstani border. Tulubaev said that although the
BG had drafted a list of necessary equipment, it could not
release the list without a diplomatic note requesting the BG
to transmit the information. (Note: Since the BG service is
part of the Committee for National Security (KNB),decisions
concerning INL work with the BG are not made by the BG
itself; our program is channeled through and authorized by
KNB. End note.)


7. (U) Last year, a significant portion of the counter-
narcotics program was to provide search equipment and two
vehicles for the Aul and Zheshkent BG posts on the Russian-
Kazakhstani border. During joint discussions of funds and
projects for FY 2004-2005, the BG requested that we change
our focus from working on the Russian-Kazakhstani border to
working on the Kyrgyz-Kazakhstani border. The BG felt that
it made more sense to concentrate on controlling the traffic
of incoming narcotics from Kyrgyzstan as opposed to
controlling the outflow of narcotics from Kazakhstan to
Russia on the long stretch of the Russian-Kazakhstani
border. (Note: INL's counter-narcotics program in 2004-2005
was divided between the Border Guard Service (BG) and the
Ministry of the Interior's Committee for Combating Narcotics
(MVD). End note.)


8. (SBU) The nature of the cooperation with the MVD is
radically different from that with the BG. Vice-Minister
Anatoliy Vyborov, the Head of the Committee on Combating
Narcotics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD),makes
most important decisions and sets the tone for the counter-
narcotics policy in Kazakhstan.


9. (SBU) The meeting with Vyborov centered around a joint
INL-UNODC project to interdict the flow of narcotics through
Kazakhstan. The effort centers on the construction of
checkpoints on major south-north traffic arteries. To allow
for the more efficient inspection of trucks and vehicles,
INL funded an inspection hangar at the Ulken MVD counter-
narcotics checkpoint which is located approximately 400 km
northeast of Almaty on a major highway artery with a
constant flow of trucks and vehicles from Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The construction was completed
in October 2005. On December 14, 2005, Vyborov and INL and
UNODC staff are scheduled to inspect the new checkpoint at
Ulken. It is thought that Ulken will serve as a model for
two internal MVD checkpoints in Kyzyltu and Beineu which INL
will equip and to the remaining five checkpoints which UNODC
will construct with INL funds.

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ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
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11. (SBU) Aisha Aitkalieva, Head of the International Law
Department of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ),agreed to an
INL proposal for a continuing series of training sessions
for MVD officers, prosecutors, and judges anchored by a
seminar in Kazakhstan for officers of the Kazakhstani
Consulates in the UAE, Israel, Turkey, and South Korea to
discuss the GOK response to the trafficking of its citizens.
The May 2006 seminar would be a follow-up event to INL's
anti-TIP program in 2005 where GOK officials consulted with
counterparts in Dubai in March to develop ties between GOK
law enforcement the UAE police. The continuing training
sessions for the spectrum of law enforcement and judicial
offices involved in anti-TIP investigation and prosecution
would build on an anti-TIP training session conducted in May
for the same audience which was co-sponsored with the
Ministry of Justice (MOJ).

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COLLECTION OF CRIMINAL STATISTICS
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13. (SBU) The meeting with the Deputy Prosecutor General,
Mr. Georgiy Kim, focused on the 2004 statistics abstract,
which, while funded by INL, was never shared with INL. INL
officer informed Kim that future cooperation hinged on the
GOK fulfilling its pledge to provide a tangible result for
the statistics project. Kim said the data would be
delivered in the spring of 2006.


14. (SBU) According to Mr. Kim, 200 copies of the abstract
were published in March 2005, but due to the structural
changes within the government, the PGO felt that the
information in the published abstract was too inaccurate to
distribute. He said that the abstract was not delivered to
anyone, not just the U.S. Embassy. According to Kim, the
PGO is working on re-issuing the 2004 abstract, which will
be combined with the statistics for 2005.


15. (U) INL developed the three-year program in order to
obtain accurate crime statistics in Kazakhstan. We funded a
project to enhance the skills and equipment of the Criminal
Statistics Division of the Prosecutor General's Office
(PGO). Funding for the final tranche of equipment is on-
hold pending receipt of the promised data abstract.

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COMMENT
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16. (SBU) Other than the institutional difficulties of doing
business with the Border Guard and the foot-dragging by the
PGO to provide statistics on crime for 2005, neither of
which are insurmountable difficulties, we achieved agreement
on the implementation of our CY 2006 programs.

ORDWAY