Kazakh President to create fund with assets of corrupt state officials: Reports

Nur-Sultan [Kazakhstan], January 19 (ANI/Sputnik): Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev intends to establish a new fund that will be financed from the assets seized from Kazakh officials accused of corruption, the Euractiv news portal reported on Tuesday, citing Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi at a briefing in Brussels on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Tokayev fired Samat Abish, the nephew of former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, from the post of the First Deputy Chairman of the National Security Council, yet another dismissal in a series of reshuffles of the country's political elites, which were formed during Nazarbayev's rule.
A wave of protests against a hike in gas prices across Kazakhstan led to nationwide uproar earlier in January, resulting in clashes with the police, casualties and looting.
The president declared a nationwide state of emergency, effective until January 19, and invited the peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to help bring the situation under control. (ANI/Sputnik)