Kyrgyzstan: Corruption topples government?

By Beth Kampschror

Where is Kyrgyzstan, and why is it important? It’s in Central Asia, west of China and south of Kazakhstan. The country’s relative proximity to Afghanistan means that, since 2001, the US has been paying Kyrgyzstan millions in rent to funnel supplies through an air base outside the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. You might remember that when the Kyrgyz government wanted to shut the base last year; the US agreed to pay more rent ($60 million per year, up from $17.4 million) to keep it open.

Why did the Kyrgyz people oust their government? Protestors apparently found it outrageous that the Kyrgyz utilities recently hiked their prices, for one. And several prominent sources noted that corruption was a major irritant. Here’s the Economist, on the rule of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev:

Mr Bakiyev disappointed many of his supporters by not living up to his promises of democracy and political reform. He failed to curb corruption, mismanaged the economy, placed some of his numerous relatives in important positions and overall, became more authoritarian than the predecessor he helped to oust.

Here’s an op-ed from Forbes:

The corruption in Kyrgyzstan is mind-boggling. President Akaev gave his son contracts to supply jet fuel for the nation's airport. President Bakiyev, in turn, put his young son Maksim in charge of the impoverished nation's development agency. Maksim signed opaque deals with China and allegedly transferred assets to overseas tax havens. Murky privatization schemes under Bakiyev involved electric utilities with suspicious ownership structures.

Maksim Bakiyev also happened to be the sole supplier of fuel to the US air base, according to the Los Angeles Times, which argued in an op-ed Monday that the US ignored Kyrgyzstan’s corruption at its peril. This rings true now, because the interim government is now accusing the US of looking the other way while Bakiyev’s family members got rich off those fuel contracts, according to the New York Times. The Times wrote that Bakiyev’s predecessor, Askar Akayev, had set up a system in which a trading company bought Russian fuel and then sold it at world prices to a local fuel company run by Akayev’s sons. The fuel company then sold the fuel to the US base. Sources told the NYT that when Bakiyev came to power in 2005, he simply modified the system for his own use, installing his son as the head of the fuel company. What the interim government will do about this in unclear.

Just one further thing about Kyrgyzstan, other parts East, corruption, and how these ousters are reported. Bakiyev became president in 2005, after the so-called Tulip Revolution ousted Askar Akayev. The year before, Ukraine had its Orange Revolution. The year before that, Georgia had its Rose Revolution. And a few years before that, Serbia got rid of longtime leader Slobodan Milosevic. All of these revolutions saw massive street protests against disputed election results, and the eventual ouster of the countries’ leaders, whom news reports indicated were the bad guys.

The Cold War’s end has obviated the need for reporters to describe conflicts in terms of Democracy versus Communism. Instead, some reporters at these revolutions have given us a new good guy – pro-Western factions – to pit against a new bad guy – nationalist or pro-Kremlin factions. Unfortunately, neither the so-called good guys nor the bad guys tend to see political power as a way to improve the lot of their constitutions. Rather, they see it as a way to enrich themselves, their families and their close friends. (And it’s not as though parts East have that market cornered – we have plenty of similar examples in the West.)

A leader can be pro-West, and talk about leading his country toward joining NATO and the European Union, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the leader is above awarding a posh job or lucrative contracts to his brother, son, or to the guy who was the best man at his wedding. We shouldn’t expect the new so-called good guys to demonstrate immediate and thorough and selfless public service. That’s an anomaly in most parts of the world. If the expectations are great, we just get set up for certain disappointment later, as shown by the many articles on the “death” of the revolutions.

Russia: Suicide bombers linked to corruption?

In other recent news from parts East that one might not initially think is linked to corruption, the double suicide bombings that killed at least 40 people in Moscow late last month highlight the fact that Russia will never defeat terrorism without getting rid of corruption in its security forces, analysts told CNN last week.

And on Monday, a Moscow judge was shot dead by an unknown gunman in either the entrance to his apartment building, or in the stairwell, according to reports. Eduard Chuvashov, 47, had enemies: He’d sentenced skinhead groups and worked on cases involving corrupt Russian officials. USA Today had more:

RIA-Novosti  says that  according to Moscow City Court's website, the judge today was to begin looking into the case of Vladimir Belashev, a former member of the Interior Ministry department in charge of fighting organized crime, who was accused of taking part in the bombings of two statues near Moscow.

Chuvashov's high-profile cases included Federal Drug Control Service officer Alexander Bulbov, who was accused of embezzling $3.2 million, illegal phone tapping, money laundering and offering bribes.

At the time of his arrest, Bulbov and his colleagues had been investigating a furniture smuggling cases that resulted in the arrests of five senior officers of the FSB, formerly known as the KGB.  The arrest, Ria-Novosti says, has prompted speculation over a possible conflict between the two state agencies.

Romania, US target OC

More than 70 people thought to be associated with three organized crime groups in Romania were arrested last week for allegedly running online scams on eBay. Romania’s organized crime directorate, the US FBI and the US Secret Service worked together to make the arrests. Wired magazine reported:

…the scammers used phishing attacks to get the login credentials of eBay account holders, then used the accounts to auction nonexistent goods. Police have identified approximately 800 victims who sent money for non-existent Rolex watches, cars, yachts, private airplanes and other luxury goods. Buyers from around the world lost an estimated $1 million after they sent money for winning auctions, but never received goods. According to one Romanian news source, an American buyer paid about $90,000 for a luxury aircraft in one auction.

The crooks allegedly operated in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Police have so far recovered only a small, undetermined amount of money in the raids.

Romania also worked with the UK last week in an operation that netted 17 people in Romania on suspicion of trafficking children to Britain for begging and stealing.

Bosnia: Officials acquitted of corruption

Two senior officials from one of Bosnia’s two semi-autonomous regions were acquitted of abuse of office charges last week by Bosnia’s state court. Former prime minister Edhem Bicakcic and former finance minister Dragan Covic, both of the Muslim-Croat Federation (which makes up about half of post-war Bosnia) were found not guilty of misallocating millions of dollars in public money meant to build apartments for other Bosnian officials.

The background of the case can be found here.

Sources reported the men were acquitted due to lack of evidence. Prosecutors have said they will appeal.

Serbia: Jocic trial postponed

The trial of alleged Serbian gangster Sreten Jocic on charges he ordered and financed a murder in the 1990s was postponed yet again last week, as none of Jocic’s four defense lawyers bothered to show up at the Belgrade court for a hearing. The case’s new judge – assigned after Serbia’s recent judicial restructuring – was not hearing any of it, according to B92:

"This is a classic case of obstruction of proceedings and you will get a court-appointed lawyer," Judge Maja Ilić told Jocić.

Jocic faces charges of paying two men DM 50,000 (€25,500 at today’s rates) to kill another two men in July 1995. He’s been in custody since April of last year, when he was arrested and charged with ordering and paying for the car-bombing that killed the owner of a Croatian magazine and his marketing manager in October 2008. That trial is slated to begin on April 20.

Italy conducts huge anti-mafia seizure

Italian authorities last week seized hundreds of buildings and enormous plots of land worth €700 million, in raids targeting the heirs of a suspected Camorra mob boss.

"The sequestered property ... belongs to the successors of Dante Passarelli," a police statement said, noting that Passarelli died in "a mysterious accident" in 2004 before being convicted of mafia links along with leaders of the Casalesi clan.

The clan is considered the most powerful and ruthless of the Camorra.

Italy’s interior minister said the property’s preliminary value could eventually end up being as much as €2 billion.

Italy passed a law in 2008 that allows the authorities to seize the property of mob relatives.