APRIL 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kazakhstan arrested a human resources manager in Shymkent, in the south of the country, for demanding a $50,000 bribe for a job, local media reported. The case throws a rare spotlight over official corruption in Kazakhstan where lucrative jobs are often bought.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 131, published on April 12 2013)
APRIL 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Documents obtained by the whistle-blower website the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists linked Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and his family to several offshore bank accounts in the British Virgin Islands. Opposition in Azerbaijan accuse Mr Aliyev of corruption. He, and his family, declined to comment.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)
MARCH 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Swedish investigators said they may consider fining or confiscating assets from the part state-owned telecoms operator Teliasonera if criminal charges stick over an investigation into whether the company illegally paid bribes to a Gibraltar-registered firm in 2007/8 for 3G licences in Uzbekistan, media reported.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 129, published on March 29 2013)
MARCH 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Anti-corruption investigators in Kyrgyzstan arrested the heads of the national police academy for bribe-taking and extortion, media reported, underlining the extent of official corruption. The Kyrgyz authorities have launched an aggressive anti-corruption drive during the past year.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 127, published on March 15 2013)
FEB. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a secretly taped meeting in 2005, Azerbaijani MP Gular Ahmadova allegedly offered to guarantee the rector of a Baku university a seat in parliament in return for a $2m bribe.
At the time Ms Ahmadova was considered a relatively high-flying member of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party, the political party of the all-powerful President Ilham Aliyev.
Corruption is endemic in Azerbaijan. Transparency International ranked the country at 139 out of 174 in its 2012 Corruption Perception Index, next to Nigeria and Pakistan.
Even so, when the video of Ms Ahmadova offering a bribe was aired last year it caused a major stir and she was sacked from parliament.
Now, media have reported that police have arrested Ms Ahmadova for abuse of public office and embezzlement. This is rare in Azerbaijan and her court case will be eagerly watched.
The issue is far deeper, though. The opposition media in Azerbaijan have reported that she was operating on behalf of a more senior government official.
Ms Ahmaova’s case, many analysts suspect, is just a small insight into corruption running through Azerbaijan. On the same day as her arrest, media also reported that police had arrested two employees of the Ministry of Taxes for taking a $250,000 bribe in an unrelated case.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 124, published on Feb. 15 2013)
FEB. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian prosecutors accused the mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, of organising a fake job scheme which siphoned $3.25 million from the city’s budget into the coffers of the United National Movement party (UNM), the political party of President Mikheil Saakashvili. UNM officials says they have been unfairly harassed by prosecutors since losing a parliamentary election in October.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 123, published on Feb. 8 2013)
FEB. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Lars Nyberg, CEO of TeliaSonera, resigned after a report by a law firm concluded the Swedish telecoms giant had failed to do proper due diligence before buying an Uzbek 4G licence from a Gibraltar-registered firm in 2007. Media reports have since linked the Gibraltar firm to the eldest daughter of the Uzbek president.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 123, published on Feb. 8 2013)
FEB. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian prosecutors accused the mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, of organising a fake job scheme which siphoned $3.25 million from the city’s budget into the coffers of the United National Movement party (UNM), the political party of President Mikheil Saakashvili. UNM officials says they have been unfairly harassed by prosecutors since losing a parliamentary election in October.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 123, published on Feb. 8 2013)
JAN. 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Anders Narvinger, chairman of TeliaSonera, again denied that the Swedish telecoms company had bribed the Uzbek president’s family to win a lucrative 3G operating contract. Email evidence submitted in court, media reported, suggested TeliaSonera had paid a Gibraltar- registered company linked to the Uzbek president’s daughter for the contract.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 119, published on Jan. 11 2013)
DEC. 12 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Prosecutors investigating a deal in 2007 by Swedish telecoms company TeliaSonera to buy a 3G licence in Uzbekistan through a Gibraltar- registered company linked to the daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov have interviewed two of the company’s employees, media reported. TeliaSonera has denied any wrong-doing.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)
