Tag Archives: corruption

Tajikistan wants Ukrainian oligarch’s assets

MARCH 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukrainian industrial magnate Dmitri Firtash, one of Ukraine’s richest people, is having a rough time.

Four days after Austrian police arrested Mr Firtash on various criminal charges, Tajikistan’s anti-corruption agency launched an investigation into a 2002 deal involving his Cyprus-based Khairok Holdings Company.

The deal saw Khairok Holdings buy a 75% stake in Tajik Azot, a factory that produces carbamide as a fertiliser.

The timing of the Tajik investigation is suspect. Languishing in an Austrian jail makes it difficult for Mr Firtash to defend his Tajik business.

And the outlook for Mr Firtash’s control of Tajik Azot does not look good. Officials at the anti-corruption agency noted that Zayd Saydov was minister of industry when the deal was signed. Saydov is not a favourite of the authorities. He is a rival to Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and was jailed in December for 26 years for corruption, polygamy and sex with a minor.

At full capacity Tajik Azot, based 117km from Dushanbe, exported international standard Carbamide to countries across the former Soviet Union, employing over 800 people.

Since 2008, production at the plant has plummeted due to high prices of natural gas from Uzbekistan. Nevertheless as Tajikistan seeks to develop its own hydrocarbons sector the facility may assume a strategic role in the national economy once more. A nice asset to grab while you can.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)

Turkmenistan implements new corruption law

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan was due to implement a new law that combats corruption. The law, passed last week by Turkmenistan’s parliament, makes it illegal for civil servants to open foreign bank accounts. Corruption is considered rife in Turkmenistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Georgian ex-PM gets jail sentence

FEB. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Tbilisi convicted Ivane Merabishvili, a former Georgian PM, of corruption and sentenced him to five years in jail. Merabishvili is the most senior member of Georgia’s former government to be convicted during a series of trials which they have been described as “politically motivated”.

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(News report from Issue No. 172, published on Feb. 19 2014)

Uzbek authorities increase pressure on president’s daughter

FEB. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It looks as if hostilities between Gulnara Karimova and her enemies have resumed.

The Prosecutor-General in Uzbekistan reported that police detained three associates of Ms Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, for alleged financial crimes linked to Terra Group, Prime Media and Gamma Productions.

Terra Group, Prime Media and Gamma Productions were Ms Karimova’s media companies until they were shut down in 2013.

Pressure has been building on Ms Karimova over the past six months. She has been trying to defend herself from her rivals, mostly in the Uzbek intelligence services, who want to derail any ambition she may harbour of becoming the next president of Uzbekistan.

Mr Karimov has been Uzbekistan’s president since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union and, publicly at least, he hasn’t named a successor. Once one of the most powerful people in Uzbekistan, Ms Karimova has seen police raid her businesses and detain her associates.

One of those detained in police operations was Gayane Avakyan. Ms Avakyan will be well known to Swedish-Finnish telecoms company TeliaSonera. She was the owner of a Gibraltar-registered company that took a multi-million dollar payment in 2007/8 for a 3G licence in Uzbekistan.

Investigators are currently investigating the deal as they suspect it may have been a secret payment forwarded on to Ms Karimova.

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(News report from Issue No. 172, published on Feb. 19 2014)

Kazakh deputy minister arrested for corruption

FEB. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh media reported that police in Astana had arrested the deputy minister for defence, General Baghdad Maykeyev, for taking a bribe. Investigators have focused on corruption in Kazakhstan’s defence procurement sector for the last few years. Corruption in Kazakhstan is considered endemic.

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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)

Coca-Cola managers arrested in Uzbekistan

JAN. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Quoting a source at the Tashkent Prosecutor’s office, the AFP news agency said that in December police arrested two managers at the Coca-Cola joint venture in Uzbekistan for stealing millions of dollars. The story has not been confirmed by Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola owns 42.9% of the joint venture.

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(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)

Activist breaks in Uzbek president’s daughter house

JAN. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, has stashed works of art belonging to the national museum in Tashkent at her home in Switzerland, an Uzbek activist who gained entry to the property said. Embroiled in a power struggle, Ms Karimova is currently in Uzbekistan.

(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)

Georgia investigates Tbilisi mayor

DEC. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Georgia suspended the mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, while various investigations into alleged fraud were ongoing media reported. Mr Ugulava’s suspension damages the image of Tbilisi as a place for foreign companies to invest. He has denied any wrongdoing and said the charges were politically motivated.

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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)

Iranian police arrests Tajik businessman

JAN. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Iran arrested Babak Zanjani, one of Tajikistan’s most prominent businessmen, for money laundering, media reported. Mr Zanjani, an associate of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, is a native Iranian but had invested millions into Tajikistan, raising concern that he was laundering cash through the country.

(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)

Switzerland drop case against Kazakh businessman

DEC. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swiss authorities dropped a money laundering case against Timur Kulibayev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s son-in-law and a potential successor, and his close business associate Arvind Tiku without pressing charges, media reported. The Swiss authorities opened the case in 2010.

(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)