Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia
Transnistria

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Arts and Culture

Economy

Politics

Kazakhstan 2022 unrest
Kyrgyzstan 2020 unrest

Security

Society

American diplomats in Central Asia
Coronavirus
Student spotlight
X

Visual Stories

Audio
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.
Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan: Former PM arrested in corruption probe

Sapar Isakov said he is stunned by the court's decision, which he called deeply unfair.

Jun 5, 2018

Former Kyrgyzstan prime minister Sapar Isakov has been been taken into custody following yet another round of questioning by the security services.

Pervomaisk district court ruled on June 5 that Isakov should be held pending ongoing investigations into his role in the contentious modernization of a power plant in the capital, Bishkek.

Speaking to reporters after the court’s decision, Isakov appeared stunned.

“This is completely unfair. I have no words,” he said.

The State Committee for National Security, or GKNB, stated its intent to investigate Isakov on May 29. The GKNB maintains that in 2013, while Isakov was in charge of the presidential administration’s foreign liaison department, he conspired to use his position to lobby in the interests of the foreign company that eventually took charge of the power plant project.

“As a result, huge damage was caused to the interests of the state and the people,” the GKNB said in its statement.

Critics of the power plant project contend that the contract was improperly granted to Chinese-owned company TBEA and that the costs of the work were artificially inflated. Isakov has argued that Kyrgyzstan was given no choice on who would get the plant modernization contract as funding for the project was provided by China, which he said made its choice of a contractor a key stipulation for granting the $386 million loan.

Isakov’s lawyer is reportedly outraged his client was arrested and insisted that he was not in any way a flight risk.

“Where would he have escaped to? He has three children, three of them underage, and an elderly mother,” his lawyer, Uchkun Karimov, was quoted as saying by Kaktus Media.

If the authorities are a little cautious, it may be because of the recent embarrassment surrounding the flight of another former top official under investigation.

Prosecutors last month began investigating former deputy prime minister Askarbek Shadiyev on suspicion of embezzlement. In the course of their investigations, they revealed the official had a vast array of personal riches quite out of keeping with his formal role.

But only in recent days has it emerged that Shadiyev brazenly defied a travel ban by slipping across the border into Tajikistan and then hopping over to the United States via Moscow. That case has elicited multiple suggestions that Shadiyev may have had his escape abetted by high-ranking allies and so the GKNB may wish to avoid a repeat occurrence.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Related

The rights defender who dared challenge Kyrgyzstan’s security services
Kyrgyzstan: Court acquits defendants over October 2020 unrest
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan border, a crisscross of smuggler tunnels

Popular

Kazakhstan: Citizen journalist’s arrest decried by media rights advocates
Cheryl Reed
Uzbekistan claims shelling near Afghanistan border
Turkey looking to transit Turkmen gas via Azerbaijan
David O'Byrne

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2022