Kyrgyzstan moves against ex-president’s son, chief of staff

By Beth Kampschror

Local media on May 1 cited prosecutors as saying air base suppliers bought fuel from Kyrgyz companies, who in turn bought fuel from Russia.

The Kyrgyz firms were owned by Maksim (Bakiyev), and investigators say his father had relaxed import duties for his companies.

RFE also reported that the interim authorities have launched various investigations into actions of the senior Bakiyev’s government, including investigations of money laundering and abuse of office.

Bakiyev junior was earlier charged with embezzlement and abuse of power for allegedly transferring $35 million of a $300 million Russian loan to accounts that he himself controlled, and using the money to play the stock markets abroad. He is reportedly still at large.

The April 7 coup was reportedly largely triggered by public outrage over rising utility bills and government corruption.

Bulgaria: More police actions, and a new OC tribunal

Bulgaria’s authorities are on a roll with their jazzily named police raids. With the momentum built from December’s “The Impudent”, which targeted a group of kidnappers, and February’s “Octopus,” which targeted drug dealers, as well as other actions, police last week arrested four people in an action they dubbed “The Money Lenders.” The Sofia News Agency reported:

Bulgarian commandos have confiscated two laptops with electronic data for giving out illegal loans, blue prints of agricultural land plots, notarial acts for real estate in the 'Nov put' neighborhood, guarantee cards for all kinds of electric equipment that has been pawned in the pawn shops owned by the criminals.

'The Money Lenders' are also accused of having illegally acquired agricultural plots of land that they have later used to apply for EU funding.

Over BGN 50 000 (US$ 34,000) have also been confiscated during the special operation of the Bulgarian police.

The detainees are unemployed, yet they own a number of luxury cars and boast a rather high living standard.

Besides the moneylenders operation, the Agency reported that last week also saw:

Working with the DEA, Bulgaria’s organized-crime police last week also seized more than eight tons of a chemical used to turn opium into heroin. According to reports, one ton of the chemical, acetic anhydride, is enough to produce 400 kilos of heroin.

Besides all these arrests, the authorities also came up with a method by which the country’s oft-criticized judiciary might actually be able to effectively try and sentence the dozens of suspects arrested in the past six months. Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced last week that within the next year, Bulgaria will establish a special court to try organized crime and corruption cases:

According to Tsvetanov, the drastic measure will finally eliminate criticism about the lengthy trial process, the low efficiency and the inadequate rules of the courts.

The current project provides for 100 judges and prosecutors from the teams probing the most serious crime groups in Bulgaria to become members of the Tribunal.

Region: Political parties, politician under scrutiny

Experts from the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body were in Serbia last week looking at political parties’ financing – a relatively hot topic there lately over speculation that a major crime boss diverted his cocaine-trade proceeds to political parties. The agency’s final report and recommendations aren’t due until September, but B92 reported last week that the experts have already found problems:

Anti-Corruption Agency officials told BETA that 14 of the 23 parties represented in Parliament have submitted final financial reports for 2009, but stressed that the majority of them are incomplete.

According to the agency, the biggest problem is lack of auditing of donations surpassing RSD6,000.(US$80)

Also last week, officers of the EU’s police-and-justice mission in Kosovo raided the transportation ministry as part of a probe into a multi-million euro road construction deal. EU police also searched the apartment of the transport minister, former guerilla commander Fatmir Limaj, reported AFP:

"EULEX police have been carrying out searches in the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications as well as in private residences of persons connected with this ministry," the EU mission (EULEX) in Kosovo said in a statement.

The searches were "part of an ongoing investigation led by the Special Prosecutor's Office in Kosovo ... in connection with several tenders related to the construction of roads in Kosovo in the period 2007-2009," it added.

Transport Minister Fatmir Limaj himself confirmed that his property had been raided, telling reporters: "They probably saw or were looking for something that could help them in their activities and they were doing their job."

Limaj, whom the UN war crimes tribunal acquitted in 2005 of torturing and murdering civilians during the Kosovo Liberation Army’s 1998-99 conflict with Serbia, refused to resign, according to the AP. The agency also had a bit more background about the ministry’s recent deals:

The raids came just days after a $1 billion contract was awarded to an American-Turkish consortium to build a highway that will run through the country and connect it to Albania. The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications also is in charge of multimillion dollar deals to privatize Kosovo's airport and telecommunications company and has overseen major infrastructure projects in the country.

The AP also pointed out that though the local media have alleged corruption at the ministry, no charges have been filed.

Italy

Police last week arrested a powerful ’Ndrangheta boss who’d been on the run for 17 years. Italy’s interior minister told the AP that the operation was the “hardest blow that could be dealt” to the ‘Ndrangheta, and another police official noted that Giovanni Tegano, 70, was one of the most notorious and powerful figures in the Calabria-based crime group.

But a crowd of people who support Tegano thought otherwise, reported the AP:

Police cordoned-off the cheering crowd of scores of people as Tegano was leaving the police headquarters in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy, on Tuesday.

"Giovanni is a man of peace!" one woman shouted. The white-haired, bespectacled Tegano smiled and waved back.

The town’s police chief said they will have to work harder to win hearts and minds in Reggio Calabria.