Kyrgyz Cabinet plans criminal liability for “market manipulation” by end of 2026

The Kyrgyz Cabinet of Ministers plans to introduce criminal liability for “market manipulation” by the end of 2026. According to a report carried by AKIpress, the instruction was given by Cabinet Chairman and head of the Presidential Administration Adylbek Kasymaliev in Cabinet resolution No. 653 of 29 September.

A package of amendments to the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Code of Offenses, which provides for the “criminalisation of market manipulation”, has been tasked for adoption in the fourth quarter of 2026. The Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Interior Ministry, the GKNB and Financial Intelligence are named as responsible executors. Besides market manipulation, the bill should create a legal basis for seizing digital assets and assessing criminal property at equivalent value.

The document does not specify which market is concerned or what penalty is proposed. The same resolution also approved the State Strategy on countering the financing of criminal activity and the laundering of criminal proceeds in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2026–2030.