Chinese Uygur whistle-blower’s corruption claims prompt rare protest in Kyrgyzstan
- Aierken Saimaiti claimed to have smuggled US$700 million out of the country through kickbacks. He was gunned down in Istanbul on November 10
- The revelations have piled further pressure on the former Soviet country’s fragile government, led by President Sooronbai Jeenbekov
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Hundreds of protesters held a rare demonstration in Kyrgyzstan on Monday sparked by a whistle-blower’s claims of massive official corruption.
The whistle-blower who spoke to journalists was a Chinese Uygur businessman involved in the bribery that he exposed. He fled the country saying he feared for his life, but was murdered in Turkey this month.
Demonstrators held a march and a rally outside the main government building in Bishkek in response to a dramatic report claiming corrupt officials took huge pay-offs in return for turning a blind eye to smuggling millions of dollars out of the impoverished country.
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The rally with many young people participating appeared to be an expression of grass roots outrage at the large-scale corruption, as it was not called by any prominent politician. Local media reported up to 1,000 participants.
One protester, 57-year-old Kenzhebek, called the revelations the “final straw” for Kyrgyzstan, the second-poorest of the former Soviet republics.
“Today, unfortunately, we see the authorities following the same corrupt path as previous presidents,” Kenzhebek said.
The report compiled by the US-based Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz service and the independent Kyrgyz news website Kloop.kg came out on Thursday.
It cites the whistle-blower as saying a powerful China-born tradesman of Uygur descent paid huge bribes to the customs service to enable the smuggling scheme.
The revelations have piled further pressure on the ex-Soviet country’s fragile government led by President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, who has declared his aim to “struggle against corruption”.
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The report implicated a former customs official, Rayimbek Matraimov, nicknamed “Rayim Million” by his critics, rumoured to have bankrolled numerous political campaigns despite being a poorly paid civil servant.
Protesters in Bishkek held up placards showing Matraimov’s face with the slogan: “Put Rayim in prison”. Others waved football-style yellow cards.
Matraimov is officially the target of a police investigation into illegal enrichment but has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.
The key whistle-blower behind the explosive claims, Aierken Saimaiti, a former resident of Kyrgyzstan, was gunned down in Istanbul on November 10, before the report came out. Turkish police have detained four suspects.
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He had told journalists he feared for his life and had fled Kyrgyzstan after helping underground traders funnel around US$700 million out of the country, having paid kickbacks to officials.
Opposition-led protests in Kyrgyzstan brought down successive presidents in 2005 and 2010 but few reforms have followed.
The mountainous country of some 6 million people looks to China for much-needed investment but also hosts a Russian military airbase.
