ASTANA – Kazakh Ministry of Internal Affairs needs 11 billion tenge (US$32.9 million) for the introduction of criminal case investigation in electronic form, which it tests in several regions, said Oct. 16 Deputy Minister Rashid Zhakupov during the presentation of amendments to the legislation concerning the modernisation of the procedural basis of law enforcement activity. Innovation might be introduced, but the technical base for it is still undeveloped, said official.
“This process is very expensive in terms of allocating funds from the budget. To implement the full technical support of all units that would be involved in criminal prosecution today, we will need about 11 billion tenge (US$32.9 million), with every five-year renewal of all the technical equipment of law enforcement agencies. Of course, no one expects to receive this amount at once,” he stressed.
He said that the ministry understands that the digitalisation is future, but criminal prosecution is a specific sphere.
“The main problem is that the use of this pilot in fact, and our calculations, show weak technical equipment of law enforcement agencies in order to go full-scale to such a form of investigation as an electronic investigation,” explained Zhakupov, adding that the same issue is faced in developed countries.
Right now the pilot is tested in Taraz and Astana with the conjunction of Ministry of Finance. More than 400 cases go in the electronic format. As explained by Zhakupov, the pilot’s task is to reveal all issues that need to be ironed out.
“Today we are practicing this in terms of criminal misdemeanours and crimes of small gravity. Tomorrow, if this is extended to grave and especially serious crimes, then the issue of information security and the inability to penetrate into the investigation itself from the outside will appear.”
Technical, procedural problems are revealed, he added. The ministry promises to work them all up to readiness.
According to him, as soon as the programme is ready, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will start implementing it only where it will be technically possible to equip law enforcement agencies.
