Once Kazakhstan's $69 billion sovereign wealth fund is finished with a root-and-branch overhaul, it will turn to lie-detector tests to uproot further corruption.
After rampant graft in the central Asian country helped trigger deadly anti-government protests this month, Samruk-Kazyna — also known as the National Welfare Fund — will require polygraph exams for executives and managing directors appointed to run its companies, according to a plan drafted to comply with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's orders. The fund's portfolio includes oil producer KazMunayGas and Kazatomprom, the world's largest uranium miner.
The clampdown follows the dismissals of dozens of senior managers at some of Kazakhstan's biggest state enterprises controlled by the wealth fund, including people who oversee purchases. The purges, announced by Samruk Kazyna on Tuesday, will include 78 employees at KazMunayGas, 46 at Kazatomprom and 32 at railways Kazakhstan Temir Zholy.
Deputy chief executive officers and managing directors will now be subject to "psychological profiling" to test their "resistance to corruption risks," the fund said.
Mr. Tokayev has consolidated control over Kazakhstan after the deadliest unrest since the energy- and mineral-rich nation became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Days ago, Samruk-Kazyna and its CEO Almasadam Satkaliyev received an ultimatum from the president to reform or fade "into nothingness."
The Kazakh leader has already dismissed relatives of his predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev, from key posts in state companies. Mr. Nazarbayev, 81, has been sidelined in the wake of the crisis after retaining substantial influence over the country since ending a three-decade rule in 2019.
Samruk-Kazyna has also embarked on a probe into possible corruption involving export contracts with private intermediaries in industries ranging from oil to coal.
The fund's own units will be under scrutiny as part of an effort to identify those responsible for "rigged deals" and other malfeasance that may have contributed to additional costs or hurt income.
