At the Senate plenary session on May 3, the law on ensuring the inviolability of funds in the bank accounts of entrepreneurs was approved.

The law establishes administrative and criminal liability for the illegal transfer or withdrawal of funds from the bank accounts of business entities without their consent, or for failure to return the overcharged funds on time.

In particular, an administrative fine in the amount of 20 to 40 BCAs (from 6.6 million soums to 13.2 million soums) is imposed on the guilty party for this violation.

If the case of illegal transfer or withdrawal of entrepreneurs’ funds or failure to return them on time is committed by the culprit even after an administrative penalty has been applied to him, a fine of 200 to 600 BCAs (from 66 million soums to 198 million soums) is being imposed, or depending on the category of the crime, imprisonment for up to 7 years is being determined.

The Senate Chairperson Tanzila Narbayeva said that today there is no punishment for such an offense.

“About 530,000 business entities are operating in our country. If the number of people working in them is taken into account, it is not difficult to understand that these changes in the legislation directly and indirectly affect the interests of millions of people. These norms, which are introduced, first of all impose great responsibility and liability on tax authorities, banks and law enforcement agencies,” Narbayeva said.

The law was approved by senators.