Paul Goble
BISHKEK (TCA) — The growing anti-China sentiment in Central Asia countries, largely caused by Beijing’s repressive policies towards the Muslim population of Xinjiang, is an increasing impediment to China’s economic expansion in the region. We are republishing the following article on the issue, written by Paul Goble:
TCA
NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — A Kazakh-Swiss Round Table was held in Nur-Sultan on November 22, with participation of the President of the Swiss Confederation Ueli Maurer and the Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, Co-Chairman of the Kazakh-Swiss Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation Bakhyt Sultanov, as well as over 120 business representatives of the two countries, Kazakh Invest national investment promotion company reported.
TCA
KABUL (TCA) — Ambassador Alice Wells, with the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, said in a discussion at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC on November 21 that “China has not been a real player in Afghanistan development” and “is not a provider of any significant grant assistance.” She said that neighboring Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have done much more to aid Afghanistan with “regional connectivity initiatives” such as cross-border railways, electricity lines and trade exchange, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported.
TCA
BISHKEK (TCA) — The office of Kyrgyzstan President Sooronbai Jeenbekov has reiterated that the head of state has never had business ties with a man at the center of a joint investigation by RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, OCCRP, and the Kyrgyz news site Kloop about possible wide-scale corruption in the country’s customs service and massive outflows of cash from the country, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.
TCA
BISHKEK (TCA) — A Kyrgyz-linked businessman shot dead in Turkey this month had secretly provided reporters with evidence of corruption in Kyrgyzstan’s customs service and massive outflows of cash from the country, according to a new joint investigation by RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and the Kyrgyz news site Kloop, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.
Aierken Saimaiti, a 37-year-old ethnic Uyghur from China who was gunned down in Istanbul on November 10, also accused a former top Kyrgyz customs official and a shadowy Uyghur business network of reaping millions of dollars in illicit profit in schemes involving the mislabeling of goods and tax avoidance.
Saimaiti, who fled Kyrgyzstan in 2017 over what he said were fears for his safety, provided hundreds of documents to reporters demonstrating how he moved hundreds of millions of dollars out of Kyrgyzstan, saying a large portion of these transactions represented money laundering.
Much of this money flowed into the network led by Khabibula Abdukadyr, a Chinese-born Uyghur with a Kazakh passport who, until the November 21 joint investigation, does not appear to have ever appeared in a publicly available photograph.
Representatives of the Abdukadyr family, the customs service, and Kyrgyz law enforcement did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Saimaiti himself told reporters that he alone had transferred more than $700 million from Kyrgyzstan between 2011 and 2016. Reporters were unable to verify that sum.
They also never obtained documentation for the entire $700 million that Saimaiti moved abroad. But he provided cash declaration forms, wire-transfer orders, bank statements, contracts, and other documents attesting to about half of this amount.
These records included such details as senders, recipients, dates, account numbers, and countries of destination.
Saimaiti also alleged that Raimbek Matraimov, a powerful former Kyrgyz customs official, was instrumental in providing cover for the Abdukadyr network’s cargo empire in the region.
Matraimov could not be reached for comment. Multiple members and representatives of his family did not respond to requests for comment, though an assistant of Raimbek’s brother, Iskender Matraimov, asked for more time.
The investigation by RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, OCCRP, and Kloop also found that Matraimov’s wife is a joint investor in a Dubai property development with a company controlled by Khabibula.
Saimaiti told reporters prior to his death that in order to protect himself, he had applied for Turkish citizenship and expected to receive it on November 14. He said he planned to turn over more financial documents to reporters after that.
He was shot dead at a cafe in Istanbul. Turkish police have made several arrests in the case, though details of their motives and potential contacts remain murky.
TCA
NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — Turkish investors will build a new shopping center in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan. Kazakh Invest national investment promotion company will support the project, after a Memorandum has been signed between the national company and Turkey’s Kayatürk Group, Kazakh Invest said.
