Lawyer for economic crimes in Almaty — we defend businesses during inspections, investigations and in court

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Lawyer for economic crimes: defending the company, the director and the accountant

They came to the office with a seizure, the director was summoned for a talk at the Agency for Financial Monitoring, and after a tax audit a pre-trial investigation was launched and registered in the ERDR. A familiar situation for Almaty business: a criminal case can paralyse a company's operations: accounts are frozen, deals stall. The director and the chief accountant often do not understand what rights they have and what to say during questioning.

Mistakes in the first hours cost the most: explanations signed without a lawyer, documents handed over voluntarily, consent to an inspection without witnesses. We will look at how to act during a seizure, what statuses a company and its employees may have, how to challenge the damage and the expert examination, and how to help the accountant and the nominee director.

Lawyer for economic crimes: which cases fall under this

Economic crimes are fictitious invoices, companies with no real activity, embezzlement, deliberate bankruptcy, theft in public procurement. In the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan they are grouped in the chapter on criminal offences in the sphere of economic activity, and since 2017 there is no separate offence of 'false entrepreneurship': cases involving shell companies are pursued as issuing fictitious invoices, tax evasion or legalisation. A lawyer for economic crimes steps in at the seizure or pre-trial investigation stage.

A lawyer for economic crimes distinguishes a commercial dispute, a tax dispute and a criminal offence. The earlier a lawyer takes on an economic case, the lower the risk. Below are the cases that fall within this practice.

• Tax: evasion of taxes and other mandatory payments to the budget, concealment of taxable items
• Fictitious invoices: issuing and circulating documents without real transactions
• Companies with no real activity: registering companies to circulate documents and cash out
• Embezzlement and misappropriation: shortfalls, theft of entrusted property
• Deliberate bankruptcy and legalisation: asset stripping, cashing out

The main body of pre-trial investigation in such cases in Kazakhstan is the Agency for Financial Monitoring; embezzlement of budget funds involving officials is handled by the Anti-Corruption Service.

Lawyer for economic crimes and advocate: who may defend

Defence in a criminal case is conducted by an advocate — with a licence, an identity card and a warrant for the case; alongside them, a spouse or close relative may be admitted on a written application, but the procedural work is done by the advocate. Another lawyer, even with experience in economic disputes, is not entitled to participate in that capacity: their procedural powers are limited. Defence counsel enters the case from the moment of actual detention, recognition as a suspect or other actions affecting a person's rights, and may be present at interrogations, review orders and file motions; for a witness entitled to defence, an advocate participates from the first interrogation.

That is why a lawyer for economic crimes, an accountant and an auditor work alongside the advocate for economic crimes. They collect and verify documents: contracts, invoices, acts, statements, tax reporting, reconstruct the actual business transactions and the movement of goods. The advocate translates these materials into procedural arguments, while the specialists prepare calculations and opinions for the defence position.

• The advocate handles the procedural part of the case and represents the client
• The lawyer for economic crimes prepares a legal analysis of transactions and contracts
• The accountant checks the accounting records, primary documents and discrepancies
• The auditor gives an independent assessment of the company's financial operations

Check, investigation, court: when to call a lawyer for economic crimes

The earlier a lawyer for economic crimes appears in the case, the less material is collected against the company and the director. Economic and financial crimes in Kazakhstan are mainly investigated by the Agency for Financial Monitoring, and its officers work with documents seized before you had a chance to explain their meaning.

At the stage of a check or a conversation before the case is registered in the ERDR, the defence still has an opportunity to show the real transactions and the business logic, rather than proving it a year later in court.

The first explanations of employees and the director often become the basis of the charge: the accountant confirms a questionable scheme out of habit, the manager describes the contract the way that suits the investigator, and later these words are almost impossible to refute.

Therefore, the tasks of a lawyer for economic crimes at an early stage are to determine who says what, to prepare people for questions and to record the company's position in documents.

• Seizure or search at the office — before the first explanations.
• The director has been summoned for a conversation at the AFM or the police.
• A tax audit ended with the materials being referred to the investigation.
• The counterparty has been recognised as a shell company, and your transactions with it are being investigated.
• Employees are being questioned about the company's business operations.

Status in the case: witness, suspect, company

After a seizure or a call-in "for a chat", it is important to understand your status: a witness is obliged to give testimony, but is not obliged to testify against themselves or close relatives and has the right to come with a lawyer — use this from the very first summons.

• Witness: come with a lawyer, record the questions and what was seized
• Witness entitled to defence: make use of defence counsel
• Suspect: a lawyer from the moment of actual detention and the first interrogation
• Company: preserve documents, accounts and operations

Status determines what can be said and which documents to prepare before interrogation.

Search and seizure at the office: what a white-collar crime lawyer does

During a search or seizure, a white-collar crime lawyer checks the order: the lawfulness of the grounds, whether the list matches what is actually being sought, and the powers of the officers. If the required details are missing or they are looking for something other than what is stated in the order, the violation is recorded in the protocol, and only the property actually seized, with precise identifying features, should be entered in the inventory.

Equipment and servers do not always have to be taken to the authority: information can be copied and the media left with the owner. Employees should be instructed before investigative actions begin — not to sign blank forms, not to give explanations without a defence lawyer, not to delete files, so that the company does not grind to a halt without its accounting databases and the testimony of ordinary employees does not become the basis of the accusation against the director.

• Check the order and the powers of the participants in the search.
• Ensure that only what was actually seized is entered in the inventory.
• Insist on copying data instead of seizing equipment.
• Instruct employees on their conduct and testimony.

Tax crimes: dispute over the amount and compensation

A tax crime almost always grows out of an audit: first the audit report, then the notification of assessed amounts, and after that a pre-trial investigation. The key dispute is not about whether the transaction took place, but about the amount: the state revenue authority calculates tax on turnover, while the company confirms deductions and expenses with documents. A white-collar crime lawyer builds the defence in parallel: challenges the notification of the audit results first with the higher state revenue authority — this procedure is mandatory — and only then in court, seeking a reduction or cancellation of the assessed amounts while the criminal case has not yet become a conviction.

Compensation of damage is the second most important lever. For a number of economic offences, the law takes compensation of damage into account up to and including exemption from liability, but the conditions depend on the specific article, so it is important to process the payment correctly and confirm it with primary documents. The court assesses not only the amount but also the director's actions to repay it. What a white-collar crime lawyer prepares:

• Calculation of the real tax base from primary documents
• A complaint against the notification based on the audit results
• A motion to recalculate the amount of damage in the case
• Documents confirming compensation of damage
• A legal position on the counterparty's good faith

Fictitious invoices: how a white-collar crime lawyer proves transactions

A supplier being recognised as a shell company does not automatically mean the buyer is guilty. The investigation checks whether the transaction was real and not just on paper. The director or accountant faces accusations of tax evasion or of issuing fictitious invoices if the actual supply cannot be confirmed.

A white-collar crime lawyer proves the reality of a transaction through the documents a company usually has:

• consignment notes and waybills
• acceptance certificates for goods, works and services
• warehouse documents, data on storage and movement of goods
• correspondence on agreeing terms, orders, specifications
• documents on payment and subsequent sale of goods

Nominee director: how a lawyer for economic crimes protects you

When a company is registered in the name of a person who does not run the business but merely signs documents, that person becomes a nominee director. A lawyer for economic crimes explains: criminal prosecution in cases involving fictitious invoices and cash withdrawal also affects the person listed as director or founder — the investigation checks whether he knew about the scheme. In that case, testimony about the organisers, those who prepared the documents and distributed the benefits, determines his position in the case.

The key is to prove lack of awareness: when the signature appeared, who handed over the papers, whether the nominee director received money or a share. A lawyer for economic crimes collects correspondence, bank transactions, information on access to electronic keys and witness testimony. If the nominee director acted on the instructions of others rather than managing the company, this changes his role from organiser to executor. Evidence of lack of awareness and timely testimony about the organisers help separate him from those who created the scheme. Silence or an attempt to sign a confession without verifying the facts only makes the situation worse.

• who in the company is called the organiser of the scheme
• who actually controlled the accounts and the seal
• how documents were handed over for signature
• whether the nominee director received a share from the transactions
• where the keys and correspondence about signing are kept

Embezzlement and misappropriation: a lawyer for economic crimes for an accountant

An accountant signs payment orders and processes transactions, but responsibility for instructions lies with the director. An audit or inventory records a shortfall — and the question is no longer about accounting, but about who gave the instructions and who carried them out. The boundaries of responsibility are determined by documents: orders, internal memos, oral instructions reflected in correspondence — all of this changes the picture for the investigation.

If the accountant acted on a written instruction from the director, this does not remove the questions but shifts the focus to the person who gave the order. A lawyer for economic crimes for an accountant builds the defence on the separation of roles: where the technical function ends and intent begins. What should be collected in the first days:

• Orders and instructions on the disputed transactions
• Audit and inventory reports with objections
• Correspondence with the director and counterparties
• Job descriptions and agreements on material liability

Premeditated bankruptcy: a lawyer for economic crimes on asset stripping

Premeditated bankruptcy begins not with a court application, but with a chain of transactions months before it: sale of property at an undervalued price, re-registration of a share, transfer of money to affiliated companies. The investigation reads these transactions as intent to conceal assets from creditors, and then a lawyer for economic crimes builds the defence around market price and the real reasons for insolvency.

Market price is confirmed by a valuer's report, the dynamics of similar transactions, correspondence with the buyer, bank documents on equivalent counter-performance. The reasons for insolvency — falling revenue, loss of a major client, a currency spike, court enforcement — must be supported by accounting records, not words. A mistake is to destroy or "rewrite" primary documents: this turns a dispute about price into evidence of asset stripping.

• sale and purchase agreements and property transfer acts;
• an independent valuer's report on market value;
• bank statements on receipt of payment under the transaction;
• accounting records and an analysis of the causes of losses;
• correspondence with counterparties on the terms of the transaction.

Public procurement: a lawyer for economic crimes on disputed volumes of work

In cases of embezzlement in the performance of public procurement contracts, the main dispute is not about the signature but about volumes: the customer claims that the work was not performed in full or was overstated in the acts, while the contractor refers to as-built documentation — work logs, drawings, hidden works certificates, certificates of conformity. The investigator builds the charge on the findings of an audit that compared the estimate with the actual work. Defence in such cases begins with the seizure and analysis of this documentation, not with the director's explanations.

The key instrument is a repeat construction expert examination, which can answer the question of the actual volumes and quality. It is ordered where there are doubts about the initial report and often changes the picture: what the report calls an overstatement turns out to be additional work agreed with the customer. What needs to be collected and preserved:

• work production and designer's supervision logs;
• hidden works certificates and as-built drawings;
• correspondence on agreeing changes;
• certificates and data sheets for materials;
• a specialist's opinion on volumes before the expert examination.

Seizure of the company's accounts: how a lawyer for economic crimes challenges it

A seizure of the company's accounts is authorised by an investigating judge, and that order can be challenged. The proportionality itself provides grounds for defence: the investigator often blocks all incoming funds, whereas the damage in the case is limited to the disputed sum under a specific transaction. In the complaint, the lawyer for economic crimes shows the difference between the claimed damage and the frozen turnover, and also asks for funds to be released for salaries, taxes and performance of contracts.

A separate line of defence is the seizure of property belonging to a person who is not a suspect: a founder, a spouse, a company from the same group. Such a seizure is lifted if the property was not obtained by criminal means and is not connected to the suspect. What the lawyer for economic crimes prepares when challenging:

• An appeal against the investigating judge's order imposing the seizure
• Statements, turnover reports and contracts showing the real scale of the damage
• Documents on the origin of the third party's property
• Calculation of irreducible payments: salaries, taxes, rent

Calculation of damage: how a lawyer for economic crimes challenges the expert examination

The amount of damage in economic crime cases often determines the classification: it decides which part of the charge will be brought. A figure from an accounting or financial expert examination turns a dispute over calculations into a serious charge, and once it is challenged the case changes shape or falls apart. That is why the lawyer treats the damage as a separate subject of proof.

There are two instruments. An alternative study: the defence specialist examines the methodology, the source documents and the primary records and shows where the amount is overstated — duplicated episodes, taxes and penalties included. A repeat expert examination: ordered where the report is unfounded or there are doubts about its correctness, including where the methodology was breached; timely motions and accounting documents matter here. The earlier the defence gets involved, the fewer errors there will be in the final calculation.

• Calculation methodology: how the expert calculated the damage and on what assumptions
• Primary records versus summary registers: which documents formed the basis
• Taxes and penalties included in the damage without lawful grounds
• Set-off and return of goods not taken into account in the counterparty's calculation

A lawyer for economic cases and disputes: when the dispute is not yet criminal

While a dispute with a counterparty or a tax authority is proceeding in civil or administrative order, a lawyer for economic cases can close it without a criminal continuation. The task is to build a position on primary documents, counterclaims and deadlines so that the investigation has no reason to register a pre-trial investigation in the ERDR. A lawyer for economic disputes works ahead here: prepares evidence of the reality of the transactions, challenges audit reports and removes allegations of fictitiousness before they become the storyline.

If an agency inspection or pre-trial investigation is already under way in parallel, the civil and criminal tracks are coordinated by one team — a lawyer on economic matters and an advocate: the positions must not contradict each other. The most expensive mistake is to admit the debt or agree with the amounts assessed during the inspection without assessing how that will play out in the criminal case.

• Aligning positions in the tax dispute and in the criminal case
• A single package of primary documents and opinions
• Monitoring the deadlines for appealing acts and orders

Financial advocate: supporting the company before an inspection

Prevention is cheaper than defence: while there is no criminal case, a financial advocate brings the company's documents into a state that can withstand an inspection. A dossier is assembled for every major transaction — the contract, the invoice, the acts, the waybills, the payment documents, the correspondence on agreeing the terms — to confirm that the supply and the works were real.

A separate line of work is checking counterparties before signing: founders and director, registration, tax risks, whether they have the resources to perform. A finance lawyer prepares employees for requests from agencies: who is responsible, what they hand over and in what form, how they record seizure. A financial advocate also works through internal matters — distribution of assets, loans, contracts with founders — while the dispute remains civil.

• transaction dossier: contract, invoices, acts, waybills, payments
• counterparty dossier: registration, directors, signs of risk
• instructions for employees: who answers what in response to a request
• inventory of assets and liabilities before the dispute

Cost of advocate services for economic crimes

The cost of advocate services for economic crimes depends on the volume of work: how many episodes, how many persons involved, and at what stage we were brought in — inspection, pre-trial investigation or court. If the case concerns only the director, that is one workload, but if the company, the manager and the chief accountant all need defence, the work is done for each of them separately. Participation in investigative actions is paid separately: seizure, interrogation, confrontation, review of the case materials.

The final price is affected by the need to challenge an expert examination, file motions, collect documents on transactions and confirm that the operations were real. The earlier an advocate for economic crimes is brought into the case, the less work there is at the later stages. The price list on the page sets out indicative figures for each format — from a consultation to handling the case in court.

• Volume of the case: the number of episodes and persons involved.
• Stage: inspection, investigation or court.
• Who is being defended: the company, the director, the accountant.
• Whether there are expert examinations and whether they need to be challenged.

In an economic case, almost everything is decided by an early and well-prepared position: preserving documents, not signing anything unnecessary and bringing in an advocate for economic crimes straight away is cheaper than later proving innocence in court.