Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ASTANA1113
2007-04-26 10:38:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Astana
Cable title:  

KAZAKHSTAN: INL FIRST QUARTER 2007 MEETINGS

Tags:  SNAR PGOV KCRM KZ 
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VZCZCXRO7932
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHTA #1113/01 1161038
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261038Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9264
INFO RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001113 

SIPDIS

SCA COLLECTIVE

DEPT FOR INL/AAE (ALTON),SCA/CEN (OMARA)

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR PGOV KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: INL FIRST QUARTER 2007 MEETINGS

REF: A) Astana 827, B) Astana 1104

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001113

SIPDIS

SCA COLLECTIVE

DEPT FOR INL/AAE (ALTON),SCA/CEN (OMARA)

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR PGOV KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: INL FIRST QUARTER 2007 MEETINGS

REF: A) Astana 827, B) Astana 1104


1. Summary: Highlights of the INL Officer's quarterly meetings
(accompanied by visiting INL/AAE desk officer) with GOK officials
include a positive initial meeting with the new head of the MVD Drug
Control Committee; agreement on scheduling of the opening of the MVD
Anti-TIP Center; assurances of continued cooperation with the
temporary head of the Financial Policy Academy; a request for
continued engagement to improve the collection and analysis of crime
statistics from the PGO; and agreement on the upcoming visit of
Border Guards to the U.S. Visits to INL program sites throughout
Kazakhstan will be reported septel. End summary.


--------------
BACKGROUND:
--------------


2. In conjunction with the visit of INL/AAE desk officer to
Kazakhstan, on March 26 post held the first quarter 2007 meetings
with representatives from the Committee on Combating Narcotics of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Legal Institute of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Committee on Statistics of the
Procurator General's Office, the Financial Police Academy of the
Agency on Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption, the Military
Institute of the Committee for National Security, the Border Guard
Service of the Committee for National Security.


2. Under the terms of the Amended Letter of Agreement, INL
implements six programs in Kazakhstan: Counter-Narcotics, Anti-Money
Laundering, Anti-Trafficking in Persons, Border Security, Collection
of Criminal Statistics, and Improvement of Narcotics Forensics.
Currently under development is a program to reduce drug demand.


--------------
NEW DRUG CZAR...COLLABORATION CONTINUES
--------------


5. On March 26, INL representatives met with the new Chairman of
the Committee for Combating Drug Trafficking, Maratkali Nukenov, to
discuss future plans for implementation of the INL project on
strengthening seven internal anti-narcotics "Rubezh" checkpoints
located on north-south traffic arteries in Kazakhstan. The
Committee has assigned 171 officers to work at these posts. Nukenov
expressed continued support for the Rubezh project and said he
looked forward to continued collaboration with the INL office. On

March 21, 2007 Major-General Maratkali Ordabayevich Nukenov was
appointed the Head of the Kazakhstani Committee on Combating Drug
Trafficking and of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The new
Chairman replaces 49-year old Major-General Anatoly Vyborov, who
submitted his resignation to the Minister of Internal Affairs on
March 16, 2007 (Ref A).


--------------
ANTI-TIP CENTER
--------------


6. Based on the request of the Vice-Minister of Internal Affairs in
November 2005, INL conducts joint project to support the Anti-TIP
Center at the Karaganda Legal Institute of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs. The GOK provided $114,000 from the federal budget for the
development of the Institute and the other aspects of the the
Institute. The Director of the Institute, Dzhan Kenzhetayev,
expressed his satisfaction of cooperation with the Embassy over the
past year and a half. He confirmed his interest in providing joint
training on improving professional anti-trafficking detection and
investigation skills and approved training plan for 2007.


7. The Director also agreed to conduct the official opening of the
Anti-TIP Center in June. He said he viewed the opening as a
statement that Kazakhstan is ready to host international Anti-TIP
training but had no specific plans yet for inviting officers from
neighboring countries.


--------------
BEING HONEST
--------------


8. INL representatives met with the representatives of Procurator
General's Office including Alexander Ogai, Head of the Section of
Legal Oversight of State Bodies. He briefed INL on the reasons for
delay of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, saying that the delay
provided more time for citizens to legalize their property (Ref B).
Initially legalization action lasted until December 31, 2006, then
was extended the first time until March 31, and a second time until
August 1, 2007. Ogai said he expected the Law on Anti-Money

ASTANA 00001113 002 OF 002


Laundering to be adopted by the end of the year. In response to INL
Officer's question about the volume of property legalization claims,
Ogai said that in the beginning, people were afraid of being fined
or prosecuted but now the situation had changed and more and more
people were coming forward to register property. However, he said
that the registration centers did not have enough personnel to
process such a large volume of claims, another reason for extending
the property legalization law.


--------------
BORDER GUARDS AGREE TO VISIT U.S.
--------------


8. Bauyrzhan Yelubayev, Head of the Military Institute, agreed to
represent the Border Guards during the upcoming May visit to U.S. on
May 17-26. The main aim of this trip is to establish a professional
relationship between the Military Institute of Kazakhstan and the
U.S. Border Patrol Academy in Artesia, New Mexico. Yelubayev said
the Border Guards hopes to transition the training of the Border
Guards from a military service to that of a law enforcement
organization that can respond to multiple missions including
counter-narcotics, trafficking, WMD, and terrorism.


9. Note: Originally, Turzyn Uazhanov, Deputy Head of the Border
Guard Service of the Committee for National Security, agreed to join
the delegation for the visit to the U.S. but later excused himself
because of increased staffing turnover among the Deputy Heads of the
Border Guards. He agreed to visit at a later date. However, during
the quarterly meeting, he expressed interest in continuing
cooperation with INL to strengthen the southern border of Kazakhstan
since it is the most vulnerable and active area. INL Officer agreed
to continue to include assistance to the Southern border when
conducting the next phase of the border assess and equip program on
the Kazakhstani-Chinese border. End note.


-------------- --------------
GOK SHARES COSTS TO DEVELOP BETTER CRIME STATISTICS
-------------- --------------


10. INL representatives noted the success of the joint project with
the PGO Statistics Committee which arranged a meeting in Washington,
DC, on February 4-9 with their colleagues in the Statistics Bureau
of the Department of Justice. The goal of the visit was to improve
the professional knowledge of statistics managers so that the
government could make defensible human and financial resource
allocations. The GOK-financed trip showed that INL programs could
leverage other contributions to improving statisticians' skills,
knowledge, and ability.


11. INL Officer also discussed the delivery of the final tranche of
computers purchased for the Statistics Committee of the Procurator
General's Office (PGO). INL purchased the computers in order to
increase the efficiency of the collection of crime statistics. INL
implements the joint project with the PGO and provides computers to
subdivisions throughout Kazakhstan. In addition, INL assistance
supports interagency seminars on revising and improving the joint
collection of statistics on all types of crime.


--------------
COMMENT
--------------


12. Post was heartened to see the GOK devoting its own money to
complement an INL-funded project. The establishment of a
professional relationship between the statisticians in the PGO and
in DOJ is a healthy sign of GOK interest in raising its crime
statistics capability to international standards. Post also views
this as a very positive outcome of an INL project and will try to
replicate it.

ORDWAY