BISHKEK/NOV. 26 — Hundreds of people protested in Bishkek against corruption after a report published by activists accused senior customs officials of taking bribes worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Chanting “power to the people”, demonstrators waved a cartoon of former customs service chief Raimbek Matraimov who, the authors of the report said, was at the head of the corruption scheme. The demonstrators want him prosecuted and the resignation of the heads of the National Security Committee and the anti-corruption service.
Street level politics and demonstrations are a real force in Kyrgyzstan where revolutions in 2005 and 2010 overthrew governments considered corrupt.
In response to the protests, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov convened a meeting of the National Security Committee. His administration also put out a statement distancing him from any foul play.
But corruption is endemic in Kyrgyzstan, as the report, entitled: “Plunder and patronage in the heart of Central Asia”, described.
“Evidence tells the story of how a vast underground cargo empire run by the Abdukadyrs, a secretive Uyghur clan, systematically funnelled massive bribes to Kyrgyzstan’s customs service,” it said. “It also implicates Raimbek Matraimov, a former top customs official widely seen as so powerful that he is essentially untouchable.”
Central to the report was the evidence of Aierken Saimaiti, an ethnic Uyghur. He was shot dead on Nov. 10 in Istanbul. Before his murder, Saimaiti had told journalists that he had laundered $700m out of Kyrgyzstan.
On Nov. 29, security officials in Bishkek arrested Erkin Sopokov, the former Kyrgyz envoy in Istanbul. His car was found near where Saimaiti had been shot dead.
ENDS
— This story was first published in issue 430 of the weekly Bulletin.