According to him, "the terrible work of officials with complaints and statements of business promotes corruption"

The measures of protection of the rights of entrepreneurs when considering complaints and appeals of business have been included in the agenda of the meeting of the Council for the protection of entrepreneurs' rights and combating corruption of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs "Atameken", which was held at the site of NCE in the format of a video conference involving all 16 regions. The event was attended by the Deputy Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan Andrei Kravchenko, Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption Alik Shpekbayev, representatives of the Ministry for Investment and Development, the Ministry of National Economy, the Fund "Samruk-Kazyna", MPs, deputy chairman of NCE Rustam Zhursunov, entrepreneurs and others. The head of the Council Kairbek Suleimenov was a moderator.

Opening the meeting, Suleimenov said that the analysis of incoming appeals of business within the line of protection of business shows a steady increase in complaints of entrepreneurs against actions (inaction) of public servants and subjects of quasi-public sector. The National Chamber only in 2016 received 7225 complaints from entrepreneurs, while, according to legal statistics, 3892 complaints of entrepreneurs were received on all the public authorities of the country in the same period (46% less than according to NCE).

"What do these figures mean? First of all, the growing confidence to the National Chamber. Secondly, we must suggest to the State complex and useful measures for business, aimed at reducing the severity of the problem – measures, allowing to establish a constructive dialogue between officials and businessmen", - he said.

On the figures and the general problem of the quality of review of complaints of businessmen spoke today the Council member, deputy of the Mazhilis of the Parliament Kenes Absatirov. According to him, the analysis of incoming requests established that most businesses face challenges in the field of taxation, procurement, land relations, architecture and construction.

 The MP noted that "a hit of 2016 was the problem of pseudo-entrepreneurship, when companies which had transactions with pseudo-enterprises were forced to pay tens of billions tenge of taxes, which were not paid by the pseudo-enterprises at a time.

 
"By the way, just last week it became known about the first positive decision on the criminal case of pseudo-entrepreneurship. Thanks to the measures taken by the Commissioner for the Protection of the rights of entrepreneurs and the General Prosecutor's Office, the decision of Almaly district court of Almaty was overturned and the criminal case of transactions with 101 bona fide businesses has stopped. As a result, these companies have been saved from ruin, and they do not have to pay millions of taxes, that the pseudo-enterprise did not pay from 2012-2013", - he said.

Absatirov gave specific examples of violations of the rights of entrepreneurs in different regions of Kazakhstan. Thus, the owner of SP in Pavlodar region, in 2008 the court recognized him as a bona fide purchaser of two land plots. However, at the end of last year, the same court during the consideration of the law suit of the department of land relations of the town of Pavlodar recognized the purchase and contracts for sale of land plots invalid. "In other words, acquiring assets, a businessman is not immune to the fact that in the future he may lose it", - he said.

MP also spoke about the case of blatant rights violations entrepreneur in the field of architecture and construction. "In the fourth quarter of 2016 the state Architectural Control Department of Kostanay region sent 6 notices to experts of LLP" Nadezhda C" on conduction of an inspection to ensure the quality of the technical supervision during construction. In our opinion, there is a hidden intervention in business of the partnership", - he said.

Absatirov believes that similar problems arise with business, because officials violate the rights of entrepreneurs or formally consider their complaints, in fact they bear no responsibility.
Following consideration the Council recommended that the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption to pay special attention to state bodies and legal entities with absolute participation of the state, to the order of consideration of appeals and complaints of entrepreneurs in accordance with the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the order of consideration of appeals of physical and legal entities" as one of the conditions conducive to corruption practices.

Andrey Kravchenko, in turn, speaking at the meeting, recalled that the head of state at the last enlarged meeting of the Government on the results of 2016 sharply criticized the work of state authorities on creation of the conditions for business development.
"Last year we received from the business 20 thousand applications. (...) The leaders in the number of complaints are EKR, Astana and Almaty. Most often, businesses are appealing the actions / inactions of law-enforcement bodies, state revenue body, Akimats or Justice Department. We satisfy ¼ of all complaints", - he said.

Kravchenko gave an example that occurred in Karaganda, where akimat illegally refused to grant land to 126 business entities. "In Khromtau District of Aktobe region 70 business applications on provision of land were left without consideration. Only after the intervention of the prosecutor's office and "Atameken", it was discussed and the land plots were distributed. In Almaty region was stopped illegal practice of Akimat, which issued permits for the construction, because construction there has to be conducted on the basis of incomprehensible notifications", - he added.

There are many complaints, according to the deputy prosecutor general, on the procurements of the quasi-public sector, in particular, "Samruk-Kazyna".
Members of the Council, noting the negative trend of the constant flow of business complaints, agreed on the need for the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption and the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Kazakhstan to submit for consideration of the Interdepartmental Commission on the legislative activities the draft law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Introduction amendments and additions to some legislative acts of Kazakhstan on strengthening responsibility for violation of the order of consideration of appeals of individuals and legal entities" for inclusion in the plan of legislative work of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2017. Regional Chambers of Entrepreneurs were entrusted to provide legal advice to LLP "PICO" and SP "Fredina (Fomin) TV", LLP "Nadezhda-C".

Summarizing the discussion, Kairbek Suleimenov noted that a significant number of officials, in fact, work in good faith, there are certain changes in the interaction between government and business. "But in general things are there. Entrepreneurs are sent from one body to another, which creates insurmountable difficulties. The existing mechanism of attraction of public servants to disciplinary liability provides only a disciplinary form, and it is not effective enough. However, we do not want to make officials the enemies of business, this is the wrong approach. But the situation is such that many do not care about interests of business. And what is done for it? A veil of uncertainty was created to catch fish. Because if there perfect order in the office, then no bribes are possible. Terrible work with complaints and petitions is one of the conditions conducive to corruption. As they say, there is fish in murky waters", - he said.

"It is high time to strengthen public servants’ responsibility for specific violations of the law on the procedure of consideration of such complaints. And we propose to introduce a new structure of administrative violation", - said Suleymanov