BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security on July 19 said that the Mayor of the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, Albek Ibraimov was detained on suspicion of financial irregularities and illegal property sales.
Following the Committee’s announcement, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev signed a decree dismissing Ibraimov from the post of the capital’s mayor, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.
Last week, when Ibraimov was on vacation, Bishkek city council members passed a vote of no confidence against him.
Earlier this month, Ibraimov’s deputy, Renat Makenov, was arrested on charges of abuse of office.
Ibraimov, who had been mayor since 2016, is a close ally of former President Almazbek Atambayev.
Former Prime Ministers Jantoro Satybaldiev and Sapar Isakov, who served during Atambayev’s tenure, were arrested last month in connection with a corruption case.
In April, President Sooronbai Jeenbekov fired several of Atambayev’s allies, including Prosecutor-General Indira Joldubaeva and State Committee for National Security head Abdil Segizbaev.
The pressure on Atambayev’s allies is seen as evidence of a rift between Atambayev and Jeenbekov, an ex-prime minister who was tapped by Atambayev as his favored successor in the October 2017 presidential election but who has clashed with his former boss in recent months.
Atambayev, who was limited to a single six-year term by the constitution, initially kept a low profile after leaving office in November. But following his election as head of the ruling Social Democratic Party on March 31, he has publicly criticized Jeenbekov.
