FISCAL POLICE IN KAZAKHSTAN LAUNCHES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST SOROS FOUNDATION

The Soros Foundation in Kazakhstan is facing legal action for alleged tax evasion. The Kazakh fiscal police report in a press release that they have launched criminal proceedings against the Soros Foundation for failure to pay corporate taxes. The tax evasion charges were brought against the Soros Foundation following a comprehensive audit conducted by an Almaty tax committee. The auditors ruled that the foundation shall pay 81 million tenge, or $623,000, in back taxes to the Kazakh government. The Foundation appealed against the decision with the Almaty tax committee, the tax committee of the Finance Ministry, and an inter-district administrative court of Almaty, but its appeal was rejected. Under an agreement between the governments of the U.S. and Kazakhstan, any governmental or private American organization involved with assistance programs, as well as its non-resident staffers, shall be exempted from income or any other type of tax payable to the Kazakh government. Since the Soros Foundation's Kazakhstan branch belongs to neither category, but is a legal entity registered in accordance with local laws and regulations, its activity is not covered by the agreement at hand, the press release says.