Ex-Kyrgyz Top Customs Official Pays $200M to Walk Free Awaiting Trial

After paying $200 million to the state, Kyrgyzstan’s former deputy chairman of the Customs Service (GTS), Rayimbek Matraimov, was released from jail, where he had been awaiting trial for money laundering and other charges. 

Matraimov was released this week but is barred from leaving the country, Kloop, OCCRP’s partner in Kyrgyzstan, reported. He paid the sum in two installments.  

Matraimov had been in custody since March and during a parliamentary session on Thursday, the head of the State Committee for National Security (GKNB), Kamchybek Tashiev, stated that there was no point in keeping him in jail after he paid the equivalent of $200 million.  

“Of course, not all of this is cash—it includes property. We assessed the property at an underestimated value. There will be a trial soon where he will either be punished for the charges brought against him or pay a fine. After the payment of funds, keeping him in custody was of no use to either the state or himself,” Tashiev said.  

In 2019, OCCRP and its partners published a series of investigations revealing how Matraimov used his political connections to funnel $700 million abroad. The revelations sparked mass protests in Kyrgyzstan, with the public demanding his arrest.  

In October 2020, Matraimov was detained by the GKNB on suspicion of embezzling millions of dollars in public funds. He was released shortly after paying $24.5 million to the state budget. Two months later, he and his wife were sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act. A Kyrgyz court found him guilty of corruption and fined him $3,000.  

But in January 2024, Kyrgyz authorities placed Matraimov on a wanted list. In March, the GKNB announced that he had been located in Azerbaijan and that an arrest and extradition request had been sent to Baku.  

Matraimov was charged this time with hooliganism, illegal border crossing, and money laundering. He and his three brothers were detained in March after his extradition from Azerbaijan. He was also accused of illegal deprivation of liberty, although authorities have not provided further details about this charge.