Tag Archives: law

US probe into Uzbekistan-linked companies

MARCH 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan is fast becoming a pariah state for businesses.

The US authorities opened corruption investigations into business conducted by Russia’s Vimpelom and Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera in Uzbekistan, shortly after Swiss authorities announced they were looking into money laundering allegations against Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek president Isam Karimov.

It’s not a pretty picture. Vimpelcom and TeliaSonera also have registered offices in the Netherlands, where the authorities have also launched investigations.

The trigger for these problems was a $330m deal that TeliaSonera struck with Gibraltar-registered Takilant to buy a 3G licence in 2007. Takilant was officially owned by Gayane Avakyan, an associate of Ms Karimova.

A Swedish investigation has been looking into whether this payment was actually a bribe to the Karimov family. Mr Karimov and his family have run Uzbekistan as their personal fiefdom since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. They may also have had personal stakes in Uzbekistan’s big businesses.

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

Turkmen MPs pass corruption bill

MARCH 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s parliament voted in a new anticorruption law, although in reality it is little more than window dressing.

The law basically states that civil servants are restricted from private business and opening foreign bank accounts. The thinking is, it seems, that government officials are prone to corruption temptations. Perhaps by banning officials from private business, the government hopes to look pro-active in defeating corruption.

It has a long way to go. Corruption is rife in Turkmenistan, as the US-based Heritage Foundation noted in its global report on economies in 2014.

“Corruption is widespread, with public officials often forced to bribe their way into their positions,” the Heritage Foundation wrote on Turkmenistan.

Out of the 178 countries it ranked, the Heritage Foundation placed Turkmenistan at the bottom for both “property rights” and “freedom from corruption”.

Passing legislation is one thing but acting on it is another.

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

Uzbek president rules on bureaucrats’ foreign trips

MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov has passed a decree which stated that he had to give permission for the top 25 ranked officials in the government to go on overseas trips, media reported. The decree is not designed to save money, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported, but to safeguard state secrets.

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

Azerbaijan tightens anti-terror laws

MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan wants to impose harsher penalties on people who break its anti-terrorism laws, media quoted the head of the Azerbaijani parliament’s security committee, Ziyafat Asgarov, as saying. Azerbaijani officials have said they are worried about radicalised Islamists returning to Azerbaijan from Syria’s civil war.

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

Tajikistan arrests lawyer of opposition figure

MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Underling Tajikistan’s authoritarian instinct, police arrested the lawyer of jailed opposition leader Zaid Saidov, media reported. Fakhriddin Zokirov, the lawyer who represented Sadiov last year in his corruption case, is accused of forging documents and theft.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 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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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

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

Tajikistan plans new energy legislation

MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Lawmakers in Tajikistan’s lower house discussed the draft of a new law that investors hope will help them to do business in its emerging energy sector.

Tajikistan, dependent on fuel imports from Russia and unfriendly neighbour Uzbekistan, is desperate to unlock its own significant hydrocarbons potential. It hopes to both achieve energy security and earn much-needed revenue.

The problem is that the legislation appears unreformed and Byzantine even.

Although details of the law under discussion haven’t been released, it is understood that it is aimed at addressing these problems.

Russia’s Gazprom, Channel Islands-registered Tethys, France’s Total and China’s CNPC are all prospecting in Tajikistan, the latter trio joining forces to exploit the Bokhtar license area in the south-west of the republic which may hold over 3 trillion cubic metres of gas.

Neighbouring China will be the primary customer when — or perhaps at this stage that should still be an ‘if’ — Bokhtar starts gas production.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

French court rejects Georgian extradition request

FEB. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in France ruled against extraditing Georgia’s former defence minister, Davit Kezerashvili, because the corruption case against him is potentially politically motivated. The ruling is a blow for Georgia’s government which has been pursuing ministers who worked under former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Russia law sends Armenian workers back

MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A new law in Russia means 220,000 Armenian workers will shortly have to return home, cutting remittance flows, media quoted demographic analyst Ruben Yeganyan as saying. From Jan. 1, Russia will allow casual labourers to stay only 90 days in a 180-day period. Remittances from Russia are a vital income for many Armenian families.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Maltese detained for smuggling birds from Azerbaijan

FEB. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Customs officials in Malta detained a hunter returning from a trip to Azerbaijan after he tried to smuggle 50 dead birds into the country, media reported. Fifteen of the birds — which included bustards, tits, egrets and wildfowl — are listed as protected species.

(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)