Kyrgyz Elite Targeted as Japarov Allies Gain Key Assets

News

After the killing of crime boss Kamchy Kolbaev, Kyrgyz authorities have intensified their crackdown on prominent business figures suspected of financing organized crime. But is it justice—or something else?

Banner: Pavel Bednyakov, RIA Novosti/President of Russia

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Reported by

OCCRP
November 2nd, 2024
Organized Crime
Kyrgyzstan

Under intense pressure from tax inspectors and prosecutors, and after a number of arrests, several major businesses—including Bishkek’s iconic Madina textile market—have changed ownership in recent months. Investigative journalists from Kloop and Temirov Live, OCCRP’s partners in Kyrgyzstan, revealed on Thursday that the new beneficiaries are closely linked to the country’s president.

Madina has been a staple in Kyrgyzstan’s capital for over 20 years. Its owner, Tursuntai Salimov, had ambitious plans to expand with a wholesale and logistics complex. But in October 2023, those plans came crashing down: Salimov was arrested by the State Security Service (GKNB) on accusations of organized crime involvement. Though he was eventually released after paying a $15 million compensation, his son was detained on similar charges, and another son remains wanted.

Just two months after Salimov’s release, ownership of his family’s business—including Madina and the land it occupies—shifted to Tarim Trade, a company owned by the son of Khabibula Abdukadyr. Abdukadyr, according to past OCCRP reports, has long run a profitable trading monopoly funneling Chinese goods through Central Asia with assistance from corrupt customs officials. He’s also a business partner of a close friend of the president’s son in construction projects across Kyrgyzstan.

The new ownership spree didn’t stop there. Tarim Trade also acquired an adjacent plot of land, previously owned by another company and now under investigation by the GKNB.

The pattern continued in November 2024, when businessman Alexander San was detained on similar allegations of organized crime ties. After paying a hefty 500 million som (about $5.8 million) and relinquishing a lakeside tourism complex, San was released. Shortly afterward, his business—a sports center near Madina—was transferred to a company co-owned by the president’s friend Arzybek Burkanov and the wife of the president’s brother.

The president’s associates also have their eyes on another prime piece of real estate near the textile market. Beginning in 2021, tax and prosecutor officials targeted a nearby concrete factory with stringent inspections, leading to a freeze on its assets. Six months later, one of the factory’s shareholders entered a partnership with Burkanov’s children and the president’s brother’s wife in a new venture. Additional partnerships followed, and in October, nearly 42% of the factory ownership transferred to Alexander Golenko, who OCCRP’s partner Temirov Live identifies as an ally of the head of the Presidential Administrative Directorate.

According to several market vendors and businessman Erlan Bekmyrza, the president’s family and close associates seem to be laying the groundwork for a new, large-scale textile market on these valuable properties.

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