Tag Archives: corruption

Subsidiary of British caterer bribes Kazakh officials

NOV. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A subsidiary of a British catering company paid bribes to Kazakh officials to win contracts, a former employee said, the latest corruption scandal to hit Kazakhstan.

According to Karim Pabani, a former finance director of a Kazakh subsidiary of Compass Group which is one of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, the company paid for a $19,000 holiday to Dubai for a Kazakh government official and the university fees of the son of another official.

The accusations, which have been denied by Compass Group, will embarrass Kazakhstan which can’t shake off its reputation for corruption. Last month a court in France said it was investigating alleged kickbacks paid by a French company to win Kazakh helicopter contracts.

Mr Pabani’s allegations of corruption with Compass’s local subsidiary Kazmunaigaz Services Compass came during an employment tribunal. He is alleging unfair dismissal.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Kazakh copper miner company changes name

OCT. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhmys, the London-listed Kazakh copper miner that anti-corruption campaigners say has strong links to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, has changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC. KAZ Minerals retains the newer copper mines while the older mines in central Kazakhstan will operate under a new company called Cuprum Holding.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Georgia arrested military officials

OCT. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s General Prosecutor arrested four current and one former senior military officials for corruption. The officers are accused of organising a sham tender for military procurements. The arrests will be a blow to Georgia aspires to join NATO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

France to extradite Kazakhstan’s BTA bank ex-xhairman

OCT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in France agreed to extradite the ex-chairman of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank Mukhtar Ablyazov to either Russia or Ukraine to face charges he stole billions of dollars.

Prosecutors in Russia have accused Ablyazov of a $5b fraud and Ukraine wants to try him for stealing $400m.

Human rights advocates had argued that Ablyazov wouldn’t face a fair trial if he was extradited and that he may also be sent on to Kazakhstan where he is wanted on various charges including trying to incite a revolution.

The court in Lyon effectively overturned a previous decision by the Supreme Court in Paris that rejected Ablyazov’s extradition. It did, though, specify that neither Ukraine nor Russia were allowed to send him on to Kazakhstan.

Even so, for Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, Ablyazov’s extradition to either Ukraine or Russia is a major success and partially underlines his personal clout.

Relations between Kazakhstan and France have developed markedly over the past few years. Some have said that under former French President Nikolas Sarkozy the relationship became too cosy and a court in France is currently investigating allegations of bribes paid by French executives to secure a major helicopter deal.

Ablyazov had been a minister under Nazarbayev but increasingly positioned himself as an opposition leader. He fled to London in 2009 and fought the Kazakh government in a major legal case over funds. He was found guilty of contempt of court in London but absconded to the French Riviera where he was captured in 2013.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

Kazakh police arrested Border Guards chief

OCT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police arrested the head of the Kazakh Border Guards Services, a powerful military unit, General Nurlan Dzhulamamnov for abuse of power. It’s unclear exactly what the charges are although the arrest will come as a blow to the Border Guards Service already suffering from an image problem linked to bullying and corruption.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

Kazakh President reshuffles anti-corruption unit

OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked Abdrashit Zhukenov and Ali Komekbayev from their posts as the deputy chiefs of the Financial Police and Agency for Civil Service Affairs, part of a strategy to reorganise the agencies in charge of combating corruption.

Mr Nazarbayev has wanted the ministry of finance and the newly-created Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti- Corruption to take over managing corruption cases in a high-profile move aimed at grabbing the attention of international investors who are worried about corruption levels as much as people living inside Kazakhstan.

This year a number of high profile officials have been arrested and charged with corruption.

Muslim Omiraev, former deputy at the ministry of agriculture was arrested in December 2013 and sentenced to 10 years in prison (Oct. 16). Earlier in September, police arrested the former governor of Karaganda, Baurzhan Abdishev for corruption. He goes on trial in November.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)

Austrian bank bribed Azerbaijani officials

OCT. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Vienna found two former senior members of the Austrian Central Bank’s banknote-printing unit guilty of giving Azerbaijani and Syrian officials kickbacks for contracts.

The verdict confirms that corruption is rampant through even the most senior levels of Azerbaijan.

The two former directors, Johannes Miller and Michael Wolf, each received a two year suspended sentence for their part in a conspiracy to pay around $17.5m over six years to Azerbaijani and Syrian officials in exchange for contracts to print the national currency.

According to a Bloomberg report, the two directors had been ordered to find new business around 2005. They drummed up interest from Azerbaijan but only won the contract to print the Central Bank notes after promising to add an extra 20% kickback to senior officials to be paid through offshore companies.

Azerbaijani officials have previously denied taking bribes from the Austrian Central Bank. Now, though, denying the kickbacks appears all but impossible.

As well as a recent crackdown on human rights and opposition figures, Azerbaijan’s international image is scarred by allegations of major corruption.

Evidence in an Austrian court that business would only be done in Azerbaijan by agreeing kickbacks of 20% is likely to harden this image.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

France investigates French-Kazakh bribe allegations

OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – France is investigating alleged kickbacks during deals between French and Kazakh companies four years ago, the AFP news agency reported quoting a judge on condition of anonymity. The judge said the case was opened in March 2013 and that three people have been charged. The case will be an embarrassment to Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Uzbek police arrested top Tashkent customs boss

OCT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek police arrested the head of Tashkent’s customs department, Colonel Sirojiddin Gulmanov, and his deputies for corruption, media reported, a move linked to a drive by the National Security Service (NSS) to assert control.

Earlier this year around 100 officers at the customs department were arrested and accused of corruption. Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, has accused the NSS of being behind her own arrest and various plots to grab power.

An official from the state customs department, though, denied that the arrests of Colonel Gulmanov and his deputies was linked to any larger power play.

“During the investigation, cases of extortion for bribes from people and goods crossing frontiers (were discovered,” he said.

Uzbekistan is in a state of flux. Ms Karimova is under house arrest and media has reported that she will be charged with various economic crimes. Her colleagues have already been charged, found guilty and imprisoned.

She had been tipped to become the next president. Instead, Ms Karimova appears to have lost out in a year- long battle for control against the NSS.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Europe warns Georgia against seeking revenge through courts

OCT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s allies have given it another warning not to pursue political revenge through the courts.

This time the warning came from the European Parliament.

“Georgia will have to overcome the antagonism, polarisation and sense of revenge still present in order to continue its democratic development,” the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said, according to a Reuters report, in a resolution on Georgia.

The US and other European powers have previously handed out similar warnings.

Since relinquishing power last year, Mr Saakashvili has lived in New York. He has been charged in absentia with various misdemeanours. Other members of his cabinet have been charged and found guilty.

There is no love lost between the former government of Mr Saakashvili and the current government led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. The two leaders hate each other.

Tension is, it appears, beginning to bubble over in Tbilisi over the issue too.

News reports from the Georgian capital said that extra police have been deployed around the centre of the city to stop rival gangs of youth from clashing.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)