NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kyrgyzstan arrested Akmatbek Keldibekov, an opposition leader, for alleged abuse of office and corruption. The arrest of Mr Keldibekov triggered demonstrations calling for his release. Kyrgyzstan is polarised between the pro-government north and the opposition stronghold in the south.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Corruption has derailed a 195b tenge ($1.3b) government programme to bring drinking water to villages across Kazakhstan, media quoted Askhat Bekanov, a member of parliament, as saying. Mr Bekanov said in the Aktau region, for example, only six of the 300 villages that needed water system upgrades had received them.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek Prosecutor-General’s office said it was investigating the alleged kidnapping last year of an employee of Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov. Observers said the case may be designed to heap more pressure on Ms Karimova who is embroiled in a battle to keep assets and influence.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
OCT. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tax police have started an investigation into the finances of The Forum of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan, a charity linked to Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, media reported. The investigation may be aimed at unsettling Ms Karimova, part of a wider power struggle in Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The three founders of Kazakhstan-based miner ENRC have applied to de-list the company from the London Stock Exchange (LSE), media reported. The so-called ENRC Trio — Alexander Machkevitch, Alijan Ibragimov and Pathokh Chodiev — want to pull ENRC from the LSE after a series of corporate governance scandals.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) –Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pardoned 152 prisoners, including ex-economy minister Farhad Aliyev, to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, media reported. Mr Aliyev was jailed in 2005 for corruption. Some analysts interpreted his release as a softening of President Aliyev’s stance towards his opponents.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia signed into law an agreement with the Uzbek government that it hopes will defend Russian businesses in Uzbekistan.
The statement on the Russian government website was vague but also unequivocal. It said simply that the agreement would boost investments between Russia and Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan has developed a reputation for being a notoriously difficult country for private companies to operate in. Businesses talk of intimidation from the authorities, police raids and unscheduled tax inspections.
Earlier this year Russian mobile operator MTS closed down its Uzbek subsidiary after a series of run-ins with the authorities.
This month VimpelCom, MTS’s main Russian rival, also complained of unscheduled tax inspections by the authorities in Tashkent.
So, the ratification by Russia’s government of an agreement with Uzbekistan to promote and protect each other’s business interests is, at least, timely. Time will tell just how useful it is too.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov made his first state visit to the EU in nearly three years when he landed in Riga on Oct. 16.
Mr Karimov was officially in the Latvian capital to discuss bilateral relations and trade with Latvia’s president, Andris Berzins, as well as the withdrawal from Afghanistan of NATO forces. Latvia is a member of NATO and has supplied the US-led military alliance in Afghanistan with soldiers.
For Mr Karimov, though, there were other important reasons to visit Latvia. Until relatively recently, the EU had considered Uzbekistan a pariah state for various human rights abuses. European leaders are still wary of hosting Mr Karimov and he hadn’t been on a state visit to the EU since flying to Brussels in January 2011 to meet the EU and NATO chiefs.
An invitation to visit Latvia, an EU member since 2004, therefore carries more significance than it might normally. The publicity of a state visit to an EU member country would play well in the Uzbek press and television networks.
Latvia also takes over the EU presidency in 2015, so courting it now may be a clever strategy for Mr Karimov.
And then, of course, there is the small matter of a corruption investigation involving Sweden-based mobile operator TeliaSonera and payments allegedly made to Gulnara Karimova, Mr Karimov’s daughter, for a 3G licence in Uzbekistan in 2007. Investigators are looking into the role that a Latvian bank may have played in these alleged deals.
A useful trip to Latvia, then, for Mr Karimov.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish telecoms operator TeliaSonera demoted an executive for his role in deals made in 2007 to secure an Uzbek 3G licence. Tero Kivisaari was demoted from head of the company’s mobile division. Investigators allege TeliaSonera indirectly paid Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the Uzbek president, for the 3G licence.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a high-profile corruption case, police charged the former head of Kazakhstan’s Statistics Agency, Anar Meshimbayeva, with stealing 758m tenge ($4.9m) from a budget allocated for a national census in 2009. Ms Meshimbayeva fled Kazakhstan but was arrested in Moscow earlier this year and deported back to Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)