BISHKEK (TCA) — The Anti-corruption Office of Kyrgyzstan is investigating results of a tender for 6.8 billion som reconstruction of the Balykchy-Korumdu motor road on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul.
Reconstruction of the Balykchy—Tamchy—Cholpon-Ata—Korumdu road began in November 2015. After the road is completed, travel from the Jalal-Abad province in the south of the country to Lake Issyk-Kul will be reduced to four hours. It was planned that within two years the country will have a ring road, but according to the Transport Ministry, the road will not be finished in time. The Issyk-Kul province is a tourist region, and the ring road will make it more attractive.
A Parliament Commission is also investigating the legality of the tender for the reconstruction of this 104 km road implemented by a Chinese company. Under the conditions of the tender, the company must have a license issued by Kyrgyzstan’s authorized body. However, the Chinese company won the tender without such license and obtained it after the tender. The tender was held in October, but the winner received a license on December 4. According to the Parliamentary Commission, the license obtained by the Chinese company was of the third level, which means the company can only carry out medium-level repairs like patching.
At the same time, a Turkish company that offered the least amount for the road reconstruction was excluded from the tender for the same reason – the company had no license.
All this suggests corruption motives, the Commission believes, saying that as a result of the tender, the state suffered damage worth one billion soms. Transport Minister Argynbek Malabayev admitted that the tender was held with violations.
Customs
After Kyrgyzstan’s entry into the Eurasian Economic Union in August 2015, customs control at border crossing points was cancelled. Later it turned out that the new order has brought many disadvantages in addition to advantages. Businessmen carrying goods across the border often understate the volume and value of goods in order to pay less tax.
On March 15, a customs office in Osh detained trucks carrying cargo from Uzbekistan through the Dostuk checkpoint in the south of Kyrgyzstan. The weighing of only two trucks revealed a 14 tons difference compared to the accompanying documents. Accordingly, 920,000 soms in taxes were unpaid.
Earlier in March, the same customs office revealed smuggling of 18,000 tons of dried fruits imported from Tajikistan to the Batken province in the Kyrgyz south.
There were cases when customs officers took bribes for unimpeded passage of goods across the border.
The General Prosecutor’s Office and the Chui Oblast’s police recently convicted customs officials of the Chui province of involvement in tax evasion of certain firms from customs payments worth 25 million soms.
On March 2, 16 trucks with Chinese goods left the Torugart customs point on the Kyrgyz-Chinese border for Bishkek but deviated from the route and were later found at a warehouse in Tokmok. According to the customs inspection, the company evaded payment of customs duties and by providing false information about the imported goods understated the amount of customs payments by 25.4 million soms.
Officials and law
Two former defense ministers, Taalaibek Omuraliev and Abibilla Kudaiberdiev, are under investigation. They are accused of illegal allocation of budgetary funds and misuse in the construction of military and residential facilities. According to preliminary estimates, the state suffered 10 million soms in damages.
From 2012 to 2015, officials of the State Agency for Youth Affairs, Physical Culture and Sports misappropriated budget funds of more than 9 million soms.
An official from the Electric Stations JSC sold 15 million kWh of electricity to Kazakhstan and got a $10 thousand bribe. The court imposed on him a $5 thousand fine and released him. Thus, he had a $5 thousand profit. This is a paradox of our legislation, concluded MP Omurbek Tekebayev at a Parliament meeting.
According to MP Asylbek Japarov, corruption has become one of the control levels of the current state management making it possible to enrich many officials. To improve the situation, the Government and Parliament should establish rules that allow managing state property effectively.
