The number of criminal offenses committed by Kazakhstan’s civil servants has fallen by nearly two-thirds over the past five years, driven by stricter requirements for officials, reports the website infohub.kz.
Since the end of May 2026, an updated Law on State Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been in effect, requiring government employees to maintain an impeccable business reputation and avoid actions that could undermine public trust. The tightening of requirements for candidates and current civil servants began several years ago, which is reflected in the statistics.
According to the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan, 431 criminal offenses were recorded in 2025 committed by state employees. In comparison, that figure stood at around 1,300 in 2020. Thus, over five years, the number of such offenses has decreased by nearly two-thirds, despite a temporary increase recorded in 2024.
Positive dynamics continue this year. In the first half of 2026, the number of criminal offenses related to state employees fell by another 6.4% to 233 cases.
Serious crimes accounted for the largest share (73%), with 170 such incidents recorded from January to June. Meanwhile, the number of serious offenses, including corruption, continued to decline. The exception was medium-gravity crimes, which rose by 30% in the first half of the year.
Experts note that the criminal statistics reflect the number of civil servants who have become subjects of investigations, but do not automatically imply guilt — at the time of publication, investigations may still be ongoing and court decisions not yet made.