A US congressional subcommittee is opening a wide-ranging investigation into the Defense Department's fuel contracting practices at the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan.
The investigation, to be conducted by the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, will seek to determine what relationship, if any, existed between Red Star Enterprises Ltd., its affiliate Mina Corp. and the family of nominal president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, whose administration collapsed amid political violence in Bishkek on April 7. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Mina Corp. currently holds the contract for fuel deliveries to Manas. The contracts previously were held by Red Star. Manas is a key hub for US and NATO troops and materiel going to and from Afghanistan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
The subcommittee will also probe what, if anything, the Pentagon, the State Department and the US Embassy in Bishkek knew about suspected contracting irregularities.
The subcommittee made a formal request on April 12 to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to release to it all documents related to "fuel service contracts at Manas Air Base; Red Star Enterprises, Mina Corp. and all affiliated entities," and all documents referencing Red Star/Mina Corp. "in connection with the family of former President Bakiyev and/or former President [Askar] Akayev." The subcommittee is also seeking documentation on the Bakiyevs and Akayevs in relation and fuel contracts at Manas.
Red Star and Mina Corp. have been sent separate letters by the subcommittee seeking documents outlining their respective corporate structures and executive leadership, contracting and sub-contracting histories, along with "dealings" with the Akayev family, as well as "former President Bakiyev, including his son Maxim Bakiyev." The subcommittee set a deadline of May 3 for the supply of all requested documentation.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) and the FBI have also been asked to provide documentation to the investigation.
"The apparent circumstances of the fuel services contracts at Manas Air Base raise many serious questions regarding DoD's contracting in Kyrgyzstan," the chairman of National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, Rep. John Tierney, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on April 12.
A spokesman for Red Star/Mina Corp. told EurasiaNet.org the companies would cooperate with any investigation.
"I am not aware of investigation, but if there is one, that's fine. We are doing our business straight; we are unaware of the allegations [against us]. Everything is going as normal. We have our business and our contracts," the spokesman, Nikolai Ushakov, said on April 14.
According to Ushakov, Red Star Enterprises and Mina Corp. "share some management and logistics aspects in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, although they are separately registered entities with different profiles."
He denied a link exists between any member of the Bakiyev family and Red Star/Mina Corp.
Sources have asserted to EurasiaNet.org that US Embassy personnel in Bishkek were aware of allegations concerning possible links between Maxim Bakiyev and Red Star/Mina Corp.
Deirdre Tynan is Bishkek-based reporter specializing in Central Asian affairs.
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