JUNE 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is not doing enough to tackle corruption, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) country chief, Neil McKain, told Reuters. The EBRD is one of Azerbaijan’s biggest foreign investors.
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(News report from Issue No. 188, published on June 11 2014)
JUNE 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s financial police unit has calculated that around 290b tenge (roughly $1.6b) has been embezzled since the beginning of 2013.
Rather ironically the head of the unit, Marat Akhmetzhanov, gave this gloomy assessment of the endemic nature of corruption in Kazakhstan on the eve of a celebration — the 20th anniversary of the formation of the Kazakh financial police.
“In the past year and a half more than 15,000 offences were registered by the Agency,” he said. “Almost 400 cases were opened in the last 18 months against oil theft and smuggling.”
Still, people trying to embezzle cash are being caught and many of these are state officials.
Tursunbek Omurzakov, a member of parliament, said that corruption was rampant.
“Bribery has become the major obstacle to foreign investment,” he said.
Of course none of this is new. The real challenge for Kazakhstan is whether it is going to be able to do anything about it.
As Sarah Lain, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said schemes to embezzle money from businesses and to dodge tax in Kazakhstan had become relatively sophisticated.
“The use of complex networks of offshore companies, proxy owners, ‘fixers’ and offshore bank accounts is common practice amongst the higher echelons of the Kazakh business elite,” she said.
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(News report from Issue No. 188, published on JUNE 11 2014)
JUNE 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Kyrgyzstan sent Uchkunbek Tashbayev, the former head of the state agency for geology and mineral resources, to prison for five years for corruption and abuse of office, media reported.The sentence of yet another senior official is a reminder of just how endemic corruption is in Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 188, published on JUNE 11 2014)
JUNE 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Alexander Ankvab, de facto president of Abkhazia, one of Georgia’s two breakaway regions, resigned days after protesters stormed his residence and forced him to flee.
The protesters had been complaining of rampant corruption and a struggling economy. Mr Ankvab, elected in 2011 on a five year term, had initially been defiant after he fled demonstrators on May 27 but, apparently, after a meeting with his Russian sponsors he quit. There is little doubt where real power over Abkhazia lies.
Abkhazia has now set a presidential election for Aug. 24 meaning three months of uncertainty.
Although Akhazia’s independence is recognised by only a few countries, mainly driven by Russian pressure, Georgia is a bystander in Abkhazian politics.
Georgia’s impotency was summed up by its minister for reconciliation, Paata Zakareishvili. In an interview with Georgian media he pointed out that Russia had sent Vladislav Surkov, a senior aide to President Vladimir Putin, to mediate.
“Moscow rules there on the ground,” he said. “They are communicating with each other through Russia.”
As with any power change in Georgia’s two breakaway regions, South Ossetia is the other rebel province, this period of flux is a potentially dangerous one for Georgia as it can trigger instability.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
JUNE 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -An estimated 300 people in Osh, south Kyrgyzstan, blocked a main road to protest the arrest of former parliamentarian Ahmatbek Keldibekov. The authorities have accused Mr Keldibekov of abuse of office. Any sign of unrest in south Kyrgyzstan is a potential problem.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
MAY 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -The US has offered incentives of up to $1m for information on how Kyrgyz criminal boss Kamchybek Kolbayev runs a money laundering and people trafficking network, media reported. Kyrgyzstan is set to release Kolbayev from jail next month, setting itself up for a clash with the US.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Georgia acquitted ex-Georgian defence minister Davit Kezerashvili, an associate of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, of money laundering and bribe-taking. Mr Kezerashvili was tried in absentia as he is in France on bail after his extradition request was declined.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Protesters stormed the presidential administration in the Georgian rebel region of Abkhazia, forcing Aleksandr Ankvab, its leader, to flee. Protesters said they were frustrated with corruption. Mr Ankvab later denounced their action as a coup attempt. Russia has supported Abkhazian independence from Georgia since a 2008 war.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin)- In a rare admission of rampant corruption, Kyrgyzstan’s government announced it would dissolve Agroprod, the commercial arm of the ministry of agriculture. Agroprod was considered riven through with corruption and inefficiencies. It’s unclear what the Kyrgyz government plans to replace Agroprod with.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
MAY 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Almaty city filed a law suit in California against former mayor Viktor Khrapunov which it accuses of systematic corruption. Mr Khrapunov was mayor of Almaty between 2004 and 2007. He was briefly minister of emergencies before he fled to Switzerland. He is a resident of Switzerland and listed as one of its richest people.
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)
