Corruption - The Times Of Central Asia

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Uzbekistan Implicated in U.S. Investigation of NYC Mayor Eric Adams

Uzbekistan has been implicated in a serious investigation into the sources of donations to New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign. The investigation appears to be intensifying, a source said, after federal prosecutors issued subpoenas to his team members, including the mayor himself, in July. The US investigation into the mayor of New York spans six countries. It includes Adams’ ties to Turkey, Israel, Qatar, China, South Korea, and Uzbekistan. The big question investigators are trying to answer is whether his 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with Turkey’s government to receive illegal foreign donations, and whether the fire department was pressured to approve a new high-rise Turkish consulate despite safety concerns. Prosecutors seek additional information on Adams' relations with the other countries, including Uzbekistan – the only one of the six that Adams has not visited.

Corruption OSCE USAID International Cooperation Anti-Corruption Measures

Turkmenistan Strengthens Anti-Corruption Mechanisms With Kazakh Experience

Turkmenistan is actively enhancing its anti-corruption framework by drawing on international expertise. A delegation of senior officials from key ministries recently visited Kazakhstan to learn from its financial practices. This visit, facilitated by the USAID "Governance in Turkmenistan" project with support from the OSCE Center in Ashgabat, aimed to explore best practices in financial monitoring, investigations, and the regulation of virtual assets at the Astana International Financial Center. Therein, Turkmen officials studied national risk assessments, inter-agency cooperation, and preventive measures against corruption, with a particular focus on asset recovery and identifying beneficial owners. The GAT project underlines Turkmenistan's stated commitment to fostering transparent, inclusive governance and advancing socioeconomic development.

Prosecutor Justice Crime Corruption Rule of law

Former Prosecutor General Beknazarov Detained in Kyrgyzstan

A former member of the Provisional Government and former Prosecutor General, Azimbek Beknazarov, has been detained in Kyrgyzstan. The State Committee for National Security (SCNS) said he is suspected of embezzling significant sums of money. The money in question was seized in April 2010 from bank boxes and the Government House during the revolutionary events. The investigation found that Beknazarov, then a member of the Provisional Government, was involved in the theft of these funds through the purchase of expensive real estate in Kyrgyzstan, including in Issyk-Kul, Bishkek, and the Chui and Jalal-Abad regions. “On September 12, 2024, A. Beknazarov was detained and placed in the temporary detention facility of the SIZO of the SCNS KR on suspicion of committing a crime under Article 222 part 3 p.3 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic (Legalization, laundering of criminal proceeds in large amounts),” the SCNS said in a statement. According to the investigation, the funds were allegedly seized from several bank boxes with the permission of the Bishkek prosecutor. At that time, $21 million belonged to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's cronies. These funds were transferred to the National Bank for safekeeping. However, according to unconfirmed reports, the seized funds may have reached $100 million, which led to rumors that some money did not get into the vault. Azimbek Beknazarov is one of the key figures in Kyrgyz political life. He served as Prosecutor General and Deputy Prime Minister of Roza Otunbayeva's interim government from 2005 to 2010. Beknazarov was also actively involved in the coups d'état of 2005 and 2010, for which he was nicknamed “the bulldozer of revolutions.” The politician was also among the defendants in the “Kempir-Abad case”, in which he was acquitted in June 2024 with his associates.

Justice Corruption

Central Asian Police and Prosecutors Follow the Money

Gathering intelligence on money laundering and terrorist financing is just one step for authorities trying to crack down on those crimes. Transforming the intelligence into courtroom-ready evidence is just as vital. That challenge was the focus of a European Union-led workshop in Türkiye this week that drew more than 50 judicial and law enforcement officials, many of them from Central Asian countries. The prosecutors, police and financial intelligence experts discussed asset confiscation and forfeiture, mutual legal aid, open source intelligence and parallel financial investigations, which amount to following the money while separate criminal probes are underway. “The need to ensure the conversion of financial intelligence into admissible evidence in court is paramount, as it is the step that allows countries to prevent, detect and better prosecute criminals involved in financial crimes,” David Hotte, team leader at the EU Global Facility on money laundering and terrorism financing. The EU project and Türkiye´s financial intelligence unit, which is part of the Ministry of Finance, organized the workshop in Ankara, the Turkish capital. It ended Wednesday. The participants were from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Somalia. In recent years, Kazakh authorities have pursued an international campaign to recover assets that they say were stolen and moved abroad. Last month, Kazakh authorities said they had completed an investigation into the case of a nephew of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev and that the equivalent of $1.6 billion worth of assets had been returned to the state. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is also helping Central Asia with efforts against financial crimes. In April, it hosted a training session on money laundering for prosecutors, judges and financial investigators in Kyrgyzstan. Similar workshops have been held in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Some civil society groups in Central Asia say their governments could do a lot more to ensure budget transparency and curb violations of financial legislation. A 2023 index compiled by Transparency International ranks countries by perceived levels of public sector corruption – 0 is very corrupt and 100 is very clean. Kazakhstan scored 39, followed by Uzbekistan (33), Kyrgyzstan (26), Tajikistan (20) and Turkmenistan (18). The index scores are based on at least three “data sources” drawn from 13 different corruption studies and collected by institutions including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, according to Transparency International.

Kumtor Corruption China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Bishkek CHP Datka-Kemin Kyrgyzstan Railway

Bridging Continents: The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway – A Tale of Opportunities, Challenges, and Controversies

On June 6, 2024, an agreement was signed in Beijing to begin the construction of a railway between China and Uzbekistan which will pass through Kyrgyzstan, a strategic infrastructure project designed to create a new land transport corridor between Central and East Asia. For 27 years, this project remained a pipe-dream. Now, the presidents of the three countries have confidently declared that this railway, with a length of 523 kilometers, is extremely necessary and will be highly profitable for the entire region. However, such sentiments were not always the case, and doubts have long lived in the heads of multiple Kyrgyz presidents. Both Askar Akayev, who ruled the country from 1990 until the revolution in 2005, his successor Kurmanbek Bakiyev, also overthrown as a result of revolution in 2010, and Almazbek Atambayev, were not sure of the benefits of this project. Until 2017, that is, shortly before Atambayev’s resignation and the transfer of power to his, as it seemed to him at that time, reliable friend Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Atambayev was more or less consistent in defending the interests of his country, but later his focus shifted towards China. Why was there such a turn from Atambayev towards Beijing? This later became clear. On January 26, 2018, an accident occurred in the old part of the Bishkek Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP), which was supposed to have been modernized by that time. This incident served to reveal large-scale corruption and financial violations at the CHP. The contract for implementation of the modernization was signed on July 16, 2013 between the owner of the CHP, Electric Stations OJSC, and the Chinese company, TBEA, in the amount of $386 million dollars. The financing was provided as a loan by a state fund of China, the Export and Import Bank of China (Eximbank), and Kyrgyzstan had to return approximately $500 million including interest. However, after the accident and the transfer of the case to court, it transpired that the real cost of the subhead modernization was a maximum of $250-260 million. Hence, the cost was hugely inflated; as an example, a pair of pliers was invoiced for $640, and fire extinguishers for $1,600. A similar situation occurred with the Datka-Kemin power line, the construction of which began in 2012, when Atambayev was president. The project was implemented by the same Chinese company, TBEA, which carried out work on modernization of the CHP, and the amount cited for the project was the same, $386 million. Again, the loan was issued by Eximbank. As a result of corruption scandals which were revealed in 2019, Atambayev was deprived of presidential immunity and paid with his freedom. Kyrgyzstan’s accumulated debt since its independence in 1991 is estimated at $6.2 billion - 45% of GDP - around $1.7 billion of which is owed to Eximbank. After Sadyr Japarov came to power in November 2020, issues surrounding the Kumtor Gold Mine came to the fore. Discovered by geologists in 1978, the largest open pit gold mine in Central Asia,...

Corruption

The Fall and Fall of Salim Abduvaliev – Kyrgyz Authorities Place Uzbek “Kingpin” on Wanted List

The State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan (GKNB) has issued an arrest warrant for the already imprisoned 73-year-old Salim Abduvaliev, who for decades was one of Uzbekistan's most prominent individuals. As part of the investigation, evidence was obtained that Abduvaliev had financed the activities of an organized criminal group led by Kamchybek Asanbekovich Kolbaev, an individual linked to heroin trafficking who was wanted by the U.S. Department of State and was a member of the international criminal group, the "Brothers’ Circle," or “Bratva”. Kolbaev was killed in Bishkek in a security operation in October 2023 at the age of 49. In a dramatic fall from grace, in March of this year, Abduvaliev was sentenced to six years in prison in Uzbekistan for “arms trafficking”. Initially a fan of President Mirziyoyev, even being photographed wearing a t-shirt proclaiming “My President” emblazoned with Mirziyoyev’s image, Abduvaliev eventually fell afoul of reforms and a crackdown on corruption. “Whether it is criminal groups… or officials mired in corruption, if someone flouts the law and causes harm to the state and society, we will never be able to stand by and watch it,” Mirziyoyev said in December 2023. “In ‘New Uzbekistan,’ the law must prevail, and punishment for crimes must be inevitable”. Having been hugely influential in CIS countries for decades, Abduvaliev now also stands accused in Kyrgyzstan of establishing illegal channels for transporting narcotics to Europe. According to the GKNB, Abduvaliev regularly provided material support to Kolbaev and helped him to become the leader of the Kyrgyz criminal world and rank among the most influential criminal figures in the region. In their indictment, the GKNB stated that Kolbaev and Abduvaliev had a close relationship; pictures showing Kolbaev’s visits to “celebrations and other events” organized by Abduvaliev in Uzbekistan number among the evidence. Based on the collected materials, Abduvaliev was placed on the interstate and Interpol databases by the Oktyabr District Court of Bishkek. Widely-known as "Salimboy-Boyvaccha" (which can be used to mean “grandfather”, “rich man”, or “dandy”), Abduvaliev previously held the position of Vice President of the National Olympic Committee and President of the Wrestling Association of Uzbekistan. He was also an associate of the mob boss, Gafur Rakhimov, considered to be one of the most prominent drug lords in the CIS. [caption id="attachment_21414" align="alignnone" width="700"] Image: GKNB of the Kyrgyz Republic[/caption] A mainstay of Central Asian crime circles, Abduvaliev was in the aluminum business with the notorious Michael Cherney – declared by the FBI to be an “organized crime figure” - sponsored the participation of Anatoly Bykov – since jailed for murder - in elections in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia. A 2012 article in Argumenty I fakty cites an “FBI Organized Crime” report as stating that in 1987, when Mikhail Cherney came to “conquer Moscow,” he came with “recommendation letters [from] respected” Tashkent businessmen known by their nicknames, Gafur and Salim.” A well-connected source who wishes to remain anonymous for their safety told TCA that “in Uzbekistan there was no single business...