ALMATY, JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kazakh court ordered the arrest of the state pension fund’s top managers on corruption allegations, severely denting the public’s trust in one of the state’s flagship financial organisations.
The arrest of the pension fund’s chairman, Ruslan Erdenaev, the director of financial risk management, Musa Bakhtov, as well as two directors from two different mining companies, is just the latest in a series of high profile corruption cases in Kazakhstan which have even included a former economy minister.
And ordinary Kazakhs, who are already struggling to deal with the impact of a sharp economic downturn that has wiped 50% off the value of the tenge, destroyed jobs and savings, are voicing their frustrations increasingly vocally.
In Almaty, Inna Kisilenko, a mother of a six-year-old boy, shrugged her shoulders.
“Time will tell,” she said. “But honestly I feel doubtful. They [the government] increases the pension age and makes up other things.”
The pension fund arrests were ordered after the Central Bank asked the security services to investigate a deal between the fund and two mining companies worth 5b tenge ($15m) in November.
And the $20b pension fund is a particularly sensitive issue in Kazakhstan. It was created in 2014, when the government forced banks to merge their pension funds into one single state-controlled unit. Kazakhs questioned the motive of such a move. This grumbling turned to outrage when news emerged in the summer that the fund had lent members of the elite cash to finance construction of a shopping centre.
Natalya, 50, summed up people’s feelings.
“I just don’t trust it [pension fund],” she said. “I think it is not right because times are hard. I think about how elderly people survive with their pension money. Everything is getting more expensive, rent, groceries.”
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)