Tag Archives: corruption

Construction continues at bribe-hit Kazakh glass plant

ALMATY, MAY 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Construction work on a glass sheet factory in southern Kazakhstan is continuing despite it being the focus of a corruption scandal earlier this year that lead to the arrest of former Kazakh economy minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev.

Stewart Engineers, the US company involved in building the Orda Glass plant in the Kyzlorda region, said a deal had been signed with Chinese firm Triumph Group to complete construction work. Bishimbayev was arrested in January and accused of taking a $2m bribe for handing out a contract linked to the glass factory project.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

Armenian police arrests checkpoint chief

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MAY 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Armenia arrested the head of a border checkpoint for taking bribes, media reported. The arrest is a reminder that corruption is still an issue at border checkpoints in Armenia. Reports did not name the arrested man or which border post he worked at. They did say that he was taking bribes in exchange for a dropping import tax.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

Turkmenistan’s anti-corruption drive speeds up

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MAY 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan is preparing a new draft law on combating corruption, continuing an anti-graft drive that has left onlookers wondering the motivation behind it. Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has said that the anti-corruption campaign is aimed at defending ordinary people’s rights but analysts have said it may be a tool to distract from the economic downturn, linked to a drop in commodity prices, and also a way to unseat ministers and officials that are considered to be too powerful.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Kyrgyz court sentences Bakiev associate

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MAY 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Kyrgyzstan handed Valeri Belokon, the Latvian businessman who part-owns Blackpool Football Club, an in-absentia sentence of 20- years for various money laundering and financial crime offences, media reported. Belokon was an associate of Maksim Bakiyev, the son of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Mr Bakiyev was overthrown in 2010 and now lives in exile in Belarus. He and his son were widely perceived to be corrupt. Blackpool FC suspended Belokon from its board of directors this year over money laundering concerns

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

British investigators win right to study ENRC document

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MAY 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — British fraud investigators have forced ENRC, now called Eurasian Resources Group, to hand over documents that it has said are important evidence into allegations of corruption and fraud that it is investigating surrounding the company that was previously listed on the London Stock Exchange. Prosecutors have been looking into alleged corruption at ENRC since 2013.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

Corruption allegations linked to Azerbaijan forces Maltese PM to call snap election

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MAY 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Malta’s PM, Joseph Muscat, called a parliamentary election, after failing to shrug off allegations of corruption linked to deals with Azerbaijan.

For Azerbaijan, the allegations again suggest that President Ilham Aliyev is presiding over an administration comfortable with paying bribes and laundering money. Azerbaijani officials have either ignored or denied the allegations.

The media in Malta has alleged various corrupt schemes involving offshore companies linked to senior officials in Malta and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s main link to Malta is through a power station it is paying to build. In return, the power station has agreed to buy all its gas from Azerbaijan’s state-owned Socar. Malta-registered entities also own shares in Azerbaijani companies.

These corruption allegations are just the latest levied at Mr Aliyev and senior Azerbaijani officials.

This year the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe launched an investigation into alleged payments of 2.4m euros by Azerbaijan to Italian lawmaker Luce Volonte in return for help derailing attempts to criticise a human rights crackdown.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Tajik police arrests anti-corruption officials

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APRIL 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Tajikistan have arrested 17 officials at the state anti-corruption unit for abuse of power and document forgery, local media reported. The unit used to be headed by Rustam Emomali, son of Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon. He became the mayor of Dushanbe earlier this year. One of the officials arrested was deputy director Davlatbek Khairzoda.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Turkmen president sacks Prosecutor for bribe-taking

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MAY 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov fired General Prosecutor Amanmyrat Halliyev and 10 junior prosecutors for bride-taking.

Last month, Mr Berdymukhamedov sacked his energy minister in one of his semi-regular government reshuffles which his opponents say shows his insecurities.

It is unclear what bribes Mr Halliyev, 43, is accused of taking.

He had been General Prosecutor since 2013 and before that had been head of the Supreme Court. The day before Mr Halliyev was sacked, the 51-year old deputy PM for industry, Batyr Ereshov, died from unknown causes. He was one of the more prominent members of Mr Bedymukhamedov’s cabinet.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Kazakhstan’s drug purchasing overpays for medicines

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APRIL 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s state-run drug purchasing company SK Pharmacia paid nearly four times more than it needed to for various medicines in 2015 in a corruption scheme that cost the Kazakh taxpayer millions, the state’s anti-corruption unit said. SK Pharmacia has been the focus of a major corruption investigation since the end of last year.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Corruption unfolds in Georgian football

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APRIL 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s domestic football is often plagued by illegal betting, media reported quoting European gambling watchdog officials. The oocrp.org website, a part-US funded anti-corruption website, quoted the head of FederBet, Francesko Baranca, as saying Georgia’s second division matches were often targeted for illegal bets.

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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)