Eugene Gourevitch, the former head of MGN Capital and ex-board member of numerous strategic objects under former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in a maximum-security prison for corruption, Kyrgyz media outlets are reporting.

Gourevitch told EurasiaNet.org that the conviction for his role in selling Aalam Services to Manas Aerofuels in 2009 at a knockdown price is politically motivated and evidence of the “total failure” of the Kyrgyz justice system.

“I believe this verdict violates not only Kyrgyz laws, but also common sense. Board members adopted all resolutions unanimously. The CEO executed the decisions of the Board. The trial and verdict are clearly of a political nature and demonstrate the total failure of the Kyrgyz justice system,” he said on March 16. 

The investigation into the sale of Aalam Services, the main fuel depot at the Manas International Airport and US air base near Bishkek, opened in May 2010, shortly after Bakiyev was overthrown. 

But another defendant in this case, former head of the airport, Bakytbek Sydykov, was acquitted on March 3.

The buyer of Aalam Services, Manas Aerofuels, was created and financed by Mina Corp, the Gibraltar-registered company that holds the previous and current US government contract to supply aviation fuel to the Manas air base. 

Eugene Gourevitch can now boast that he’s wanted on two continents. There’s an outstanding arrest warrant for his alleged role in a $2.7 billion telecoms fraud in Italy, enough to make the case of Aalam Services look like very small fry.