US embassy cable - 05ALMATY4352

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, Narcotics, Law Enforcement, Money Laundering 
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 
---------------------- 
 
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 
------------------ 
 
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 
---------------------------- 
 
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 
---------------------------------- 
 
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