NOV. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a televised show, Olim Sulaimanov, director of a small trading company in Uzbekistan, explained how his company had been raided by Uzbek police, Eurasianet reported. Mr Sulaimanov, whose company exports fruits and vegetables to Russia, appealed to acting-President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to unfreeze his company’s assets.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
NOV. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A US judge postponed a final decision on the handling of illicit funds accumulated by Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan’s late-President Islam Karimov. Judge Andrew Carter ordered that the US and Uzbek parties will have to reach an agreement by the end of January 2017, a three-month extension on the previous deadline that expired on Nov. 2. The funds, around $600m which a US court had ring- fenced as illegal under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, are currently held in a Swiss bank account.
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(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)
OCT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — When Armenian gunmen calling themselves the Daredevils of Sassoun after a group of lionised 8th century freedom fighters seized a police compound in Yerevan in July, the world’s attention was focused on another story unfolding next door – an attempted coup in Turkey.
Yet what took place in Armenia was an unprecedented strike against the state. Veterans from a war in the 1990s between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the so-called Daredevils held police officers and medics hostage for two weeks before surrendering to the authorities without a fight.
But, by then, thousands of Armenians had come out onto the streets to express their solidarity with the gunmen.
In the eyes of the authorities the gunmen were criminals, official media described them as terrorists. Three policemen died during the siege, afterall. But on the day of their surrender, supporters gathered outside the Opera House in central Yerevan chanting their names and calling them heroes.
One long-term South-Caucasus observer told me that what happened in July was the emergence of a new and radical form of anti-government protest, likely to be repeated in other post-Soviet oligarchies.
There was no single reason for the gunmen’s actions, instead they were driven by an aggregate of problems facing Armenian society.
Poverty, corruption, inequality, and the authorities’ inability to resolve the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh Their actions prompted mixed feelings among Armenians. Some were outraged that the gunmen were using violence to achieve their goals. Others saw this aggressive action as necessary but poorly executed.
But many were inspired. Since their arrest, Daredevil supporters have been mythologising them, writing songs about their sacrifice for a noble cause – a more prosperous and free Armenia.
Since the siege and the protests, President Serzh Sargsyan has promised reforms, and a new PM and government has been ushered in. Few, though, believe deeply rooted social and economic problems can be solved so easily.
And the story of the Daredevils is not over. Once a trial date is set, their support base will become active again, demanding their release. That raises the prospect of another spell of street protests in Armenia.
By Rahyan Demytrie, a BBC correspondent in the South Caucasus
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(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan is seeking the extradition of a former mid-ranking police officer based in Almaty who they say headed a crime ring that stole luxury cars from Moscow and resold them in Kazakh cities. The allegations show the extent of corruption within Kazakhstan’s police force. Prosecutors said that the corrupt police officer and his gang stole 500 cars over 10 years. Each car was worth between $50,000 and $120,000.
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(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Financial Times published a story connecting US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, through a series of property deals, to a Kazakh family accused of money laundering.
In the story, the FT said Mr Trump was involved in a a 2006 property deal with Trump Towers Soho in New York and a company called Bayrock, linked to Viktor Khrapunov.
Mr Khrapunov is a former mayor of Almaty, who is now exiled in Switzerland. Earlier this year, prosecutors in Kazakhstan said they wanted Mr Khrapunov sent back to Kazakhstan to face charges of money laundering. Mr Kharpunov has said he is being hounded because of his opposition to President Nurtulan Nazarbayev.
Neither Mr Trump nor Mr Khrapunov have commented on the FT story.
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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)
SEPT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The International Tennis Federation banned for life two Uzbek officials for betting offences. The two officials, Sherzod Hasanov and Arkhip Molotyagin,communicated via mobile phone the scores of games they were officiating to a third party, before recording them into the official electronic score- board, allowing illegal betting.
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(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)
AUG. 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Russian foreign ministry complained to both Armenia and the US over the brief detention of its citizen, Sergei Mironov, in Armenia at the request of the US. Mr Mironov, 30, on the US wanted list for money laundering and illegal arms export, was arrested in Armenia on Aug. 26. The Armenian court refused to bring him to trial and released him days later. On Aug. 31, Mr Mironov fled to Russia. The episode risks straining relations between Armenia and Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)
AUG. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian mobile phone operator MTS, which is listed on the New York stock exchange, said it had sold its business in Uzbekistan to the Uzbek government. The US authorities have been investigating alleged corruption at MTS’s Uzbek operations. MTS owned a 50% stake in UMS, the country’s third largest mobile operator. Various governments have launched a series of investigations into corruption by mobile operators in Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 292, published on Aug. 12 2016)
JULY 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — One Uzbek prosecutor was fired and the head of a local police station in Tashkent is also being questioned in an investigation over an alleged fraudulent pyramid scheme master- minded by businessman Akhmad Tursunbayev. Mr Tursunbayev was arrested in mid-June for having stolen money from people with the promise of a 100% return, Eurasianet reported. The investigators now claim that public officials may have been involved.
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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)
JULY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Amsterdam ordered the seizure of €123m ($135m) of assets linked to Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, as part of an ongoing global investigation into bribes paid by major telecoms firms looking to enter the Uzbek market.
Gibraltar-registered Takilant, the company linked to Ms Karimova that took bribes to award telecoms licences in Uzbekistan, had its assets frozen in Sweden in 2012/13 in a related court case but this is the first time a Western court has directly confiscated them.
The Dutch ruling targeted cash that Amsterdam-based Russian telecoms operator VimpelCom and Sweden’s Telia Company paid Takilant between 2004 and 2013.
In its decision, the court said that Takilant demonstrated “a way of doing business that is socially extremely destabilising.”
The latest ruling aggravates a corruption scandal that has sunk Uzbekistan’s already weak reputation as a place for Western businesses to operate.
It also deals another blow to Ms Karimova’s profile in Uzbekistan, where the self-styled fashion designer and diplomat was once touted as a potential president. She has been under house arrest in Tashkent for two years and her associates are in prison for various financial crimes.
With the confiscation of Takilant’s assets, the courts start to close in on reclaiming some of the millions of dollars paid to Ms Karimova. Previously, courts had only managed to fine European telecoms companies for their illegal practices.
In February, a US court ruled that VimpelCom, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was guilty of bribing Takilant and fined it $795m. Another US prosecutor is currently trying to freeze $550m of Takilant’s assets.
Sweden’s Telia has also said at it has put aside millions of dollars to pay fines linked to bribery charges.
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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)
