Abstract
Purpose In accordance with the country’s programme documents, the fight against corruption, defined as the most important strategic priority of the national policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, acquires consistent political and legal support. The purpose of this paper is to study the criminal law combating corruption in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the methods of historical analysis of the current legal provisions, analysis of the compositions of malfeasances and synthesis were used. Findings This study considered the main historical stages and aspects of the development of modern legislation of criminal liability for corruption offences. The authors of this study provided sound proposals for improving the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Originality/value This paper argues the need to develop corruptology as an independent interdisciplinary scientific area, the subject of which would be corruption as a political, sociological, economic, legal and criminological phenomenon; features of corruption and combating it throughout the history of state–legal relations.