ASTANA (TCA) — Assets worth 588 billion tenge (around US $1.6 billion) had been legalized during the ongoing property legalization campaign in Kazakhstan as of end-January 2016, Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency reported citing Finance Minister Bakyt Sultanov.
Some 428 billion tenge was legalized before December 1, 2015, and 160 billion tenge was legalized in December and January (one-third of the amount legalized during the previous 15 months of the campaign, Sultanov said at the Government meeting on February 2.
In addition, the government is now considering more than 27 thousand requests for legalization of assets worth around 300 billion tenge, the minister said.
Following the Government’s meeting, Prime Minister Karim Masimov instructed the Finance Ministry, regional administrations, administrations of Astana and Almaty, and the National Bank of Kazakhstan to strengthen the explanatory work on the legalization campaign among Kazakhstani citizens.
The legalization campaign started on 1 September 2014 and will last until the end of 2016.
It was earlier reported that the government of Kazakhstan expected to legalize more than $10 billion during this capital amnesty campaign.
Capital or property declared during the legalization campaign will not be taxed.
According to the capital legalization law, the amnesty applies to money, securities, stakes in authorized capitals of legal entities, and real estate beyond Kazakhstan. Property received as a result of corruption and other crimes will not be legalized.
In line with the capital amnesty law, legalized monies will be transferred to special and saving accounts in second-tier banks in Kazakhstan.
It is the third capital amnesty campaign in Kazakhstan since the country gained independence in 1991. The first such campaign took place in 2001, when $480 million was legalized during one month. The second legalization campaign was carried out in 2006 and 2007, when the amnesty was applied to both capitals and property, and resulted in legalization of $6.8 billion.
