http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=in_the_back
QUOTE
WHILE Kyrgyzstan struggles with ethnic
conflict, civil unrest and chronic corruption, the UK’s links to the Kyrgyz
troubles are now beginning to emerge. Firstly, Maxim Bakiyev, son of the
deposed president, landed in Farnborough last week claiming asylum. Back
home he faces charges of embezzling £24m from a Russian loan.
Secondly, the Eye can report, all the aviation fuel used by the US airbase
at Manas in Kyrgyzstan – the key transit point for the war in Afghanistan –
is being supplied by two companies who share registered offices with
“Elegant Escorts & Dating Ltd” [ Not found - Editor ] above a row of shops on the Finchley Road in
north London.
"Ludicrous allegations"
Without having to bid, two firms –
Mina Corporation
[ big in pipe work ] and
Red Star Services Ltd [ 788/790
Finchley Road, London, NW11 7TJ 05027043 ] –
won supply contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But their
unknown ownership and mysterious nature led to widespread belief in
Kyrgyzstan that they were in fact fronts to pay off the families of two
consecutive Kyrgyz presidents: Askar Akayev, who was toppled in 2005; and
Maxim’s father Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was driven from office this April.
The suspicion of corruption was a
significant factor in the removal of both men; but Chuck Squires, a
spokesman for Mina Corp, forcefully denies any wrongdoing, telling Private
Eye: “Allegations of corrupt dealings are ludicrous and defamatory.”
Despite the denial a US congressional
committee is investigating Mina, Red Star and the Manas fuel contracts. The
investigation is being led by congressman John F Tierney [ See
NATIONAL SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING “Crisis in Kyrgyzstan: Fuel,
Contracts, and Revolution along the Afghan Supply Chain” ], who has stressed
the significance of alleged corruption at the base being “a driver of the
revolution”. He said: “Both President Akayev and President Bakiyev were
forcefully ousted from office amid widespread public perception that the US
had supported the regimes’ repression and fuelled – no pun intended – their
corrosive corruption.”
Finchley, Gibraltar, er… Bagram
The formerly unknown Red Star was given a $240m, three-year contract to
supply jet fuel to the Manas base in 2002. Firms run by the then president
Akayev’s son and son-in-law had multimillion-dollar subcontracts to do the
same.
After Akayev was ousted in the “Tulip
Revolution”, he was replaced by Bakiyev… and Red Star was duly replaced by a
new company, Mina Corp, with a $243m contract to supply the fuel. Mina has
the same offices – including the Finchley address – and personnel as Red
Star.
Company spokesman Squires, formerly US
defence attaché to Kyrgyzstan, said Mina Corp “has never had any ownership
affiliations with Kyrgyz government officials, nor has it ever directed any
US government funds to Kyrgyz officials.”
While Squires declined to identify Mina’s
owners or directors, the company’s Finchley Road offices are registered in
the name of junior staff and link to an offshore company in Gibraltar. Mina
Corp has promised to cooperate with the US congressional investigation which
is also looking into the $720m contract held by Red Star to supply aviation
fuel to the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan used by both US and UK forces.
UNQUOTE
Who says crime does not pay? Prigs, preachers and bores, or is it the envious?
Bishkek Fuel-Supply Corruption Probe Focusing on Maxim Bakiyev
QUOTE
Kyrgyzstan’s General Prosecutor’s
Office is focusing its corruption investigation concerning fuel
supplies at Manas Transit Center on companies allegedly controlled by
Maxim Bakiyev, the son of ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Kyrgyz prosecutors are investigating
six local suppliers that provided TS-1 jet fuel to Mina Corp and Red
Star Enterprises Ltd., two entities that have held fuel supply
contracts for Manas operations. Manas is a key logistics hub for US
and NATO military operations in Afghanistan. [For
background see EurasiaNet archive].
According to an April 30 statement
released by the General Prosecutor’s Office, the six Kyrgyz entities
are suspected of having engaged in fraudulent practices to evade
paying roughly $90 million in excise taxes over the past five years, a
period that coincides with former president Bakiyev’s tenure in power.
[For
background see EurasiaNet archive].
The six companies under
investigation were identified in the General Prosecutor’s Office
statement as “Manas Fuel Services, Kyrgyz Aviation, Central Asia Fuel,
Aviation Fuel Service, Aircraft Petrol Ltd., [and] Central Asia Trade
Group.”
“It should be noted that all of the
above companies belong to Maxim Bakiyev,” the statement added. Bakiyev,
the former head of the Kyrgyz Central Agency for Development,
Investment and Innovation, was in Washington, DC, when unrest erupted
in Bishkek in early April, resulting in his father’s ouster.
Kyrgyzstan’s provisional leadership has authorized a warrant for
Maxim’s arrest. His current whereabouts have not been independently
verified. [For
background see EurasiaNet archive].
According to Kyrgyz prosecutors, the
elder Bakiyev allegedly engineered parliamentary changes in tax
regulations that were purportedly tailored to benefit his son’s
commercial interests.
In 2004, a draft law was introduced
to set the excise rate on jet fuel at 2,000 soms [about $50] per ton,
the General Prosecutor’s Office’s statement said.
“However, despite this and in order
to obtain benefits for the individuals concerned, the Kyrgyz
Parliament adopted, and the President of the Kyrgyz Republic signed,
an Act which states that since 2005 excise tax on imports of jet fuel
is set at a zero rate,” the statement said.
According to the US government’s
Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) website, Mina Corp obtained the
latest Manas fuel contract worth up to $730.9 million on July 29,
2009, to supply fuel to Manas under a no-bid contract. The
justification cited was the “national security” clause of the Federal
Acquisition Regulations system.
Red Star/Mina Corp is currently the
subject of a US congressional investigation into corrupt fuel
contracting practices at the air base. [For
background see EurasiaNet archive].
Under the terms of the Manas Transit
Center agreement, both Red Star and Mina Corp are exempt from Kyrgyz
customs and taxes. Article 7 of the agreement signed last year states;
“purchases of goods and services in the Kyrgyz Republic by the US
government or on its behalf to implement this agreement are not
subject to any taxes, customs fees and similar payments on the
territory of the Kyrgyz Republic.”
Editor's note:
Deirdre Tynan is a
Bishkek-based reporter specializing in Central Asian affairs.
UNQUOTE
This is a fairly independent source, one assumes.