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Anonymous ID: d1634d June 20, 2018, 9:15 p.m. No.1841724   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Another bites the Dust in the desert of Eurasia

 

Kyrgyzstan: Another former PM arrested over alleged graft

 

The dragnet over the power plant modernization has now caught up with Zhantoro Satybaldiyev.

 

Jun 19, 2018

 

Security services in Kyrgyzstan say they have arrested another former prime minister as part of investigations into alleged irregularities during a power plant modernization project.

 

The State Committee for National Security, or GKNB, said on June 18 that Zhantoro Satybaldiyev is being investigated on suspicion of corruption.

 

Satybaldiyev, who served as head of the government from September 2012 to March 2014, has been placed in custody pending a ruling by the Pervomaisk district court in Bishkek to determine how long he is to remain in detention.

 

Sapar Isakov, who served as prime minister until he was dismissed in April in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, was detained last month as part of the same investigation.

 

The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the overhaul of Bishkek thermal power plant, a dual-purpose structure that provides the capital with electricity and heating, was ostensibly sparked by a malfunction in January. The sudden collapse of the plant left hundreds of thousands of people without heating just as temperatures outside had sunk to almost -30 degrees Celsius. Detractors of the modernization project claim that it was bedeviled by overspending and that the contract was granted in an improper manner to a Chinese company called TBEA.

 

It is only relatively recently, however, that the authorities have begun filing criminal cases in earnest. And the primary high-profile targets of those investigations are figures known to be allies of the ex-president, Almazbek Atambayev, who stepped down in November, having come to the close of his single permitted, six-year term. Although Atambayev actively endorsed his successor, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, the two men have since fallen out.

 

The arrests of Satybaldiyev and Isakov came on the heels of a three-month parliament inquiry into the power plant modernization project. Parliamentarians named multiple people as responsible for purported wrongdoing. Among them were the two now-detained prime ministers, as well as two other former prime ministers, Temir Sariyev and Joomart Otorbayev. The latter two have not to date faced any proceedings from the security services.

 

Another person who has been caught up in the power plant dragnet, however, is Kubanychbek Kulmatov, a former customs chief and mayor of Bishkek — the latter being an office he held for two years, up to February 2016. In May, the GKNB announced it was charging Kulmatov with corruption for allegedly redirecting $2 million that had been provided as part of a China-issued loan to fund the power plant renovation onto the accounts of the mayor’s office. His office is then said to have used the money to grant a construction contract for a school in a shanty neighborhood on the fringes of Bishkek without going through the process of a tender.

 

Kulmatov denied when he was charged that he had done anything wrong and was openly derisive about the idea he could be put on trial for building a new school in an underprivileged neighborhood.

 

In possible recognition of the oddity of that charge, the GKNB have this week doubled down on Kulmatov, accusing him manufacturing documents for the purpose of illegally crossing state borders. The security agency also said on June 17 that Kulmatov obtained Russian citizenship in 1995 and then subsequently, in 1996, illegally claimed Kyrgyz citizenship too. His lawyer has called this latest accusation nonsense, saying that he can present a copy of a Russian court ruling that Kulmatov never had Russian citizenship.

 

https:// eurasianet.org/s/kyrgyzstan-another-former-pm-arrested-over-alleged-graft

Anonymous ID: d1634d June 20, 2018, 9:15 p.m. No.1841737   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>1922 >>1931 >>2203 >>2249

Change of Leadership in Kazakhstan?

 

Kazakhstan: Senate speaker signals Nazarbayev won't run in 2020

 

Long-standing laws will grant Nazarbayev considerable say in running the country even after he has stepped down.

 

Jun 20, 2018

The speaker of Kazakhstan’s parliament has dropped a political bombshell by stating in an interview that President Nursultan Nazarbayev may not run for re-election in 2020.

 

“He is a very wise man, he is absolutely reasonable. And I think that in 2020 we shall have presidential elections with other candidates,” Tokayev told BBC’s Hard Talk program in an interview aired on June 20.

 

Tokayev said he was expressing his own personal views in making the forecast, although it is unlikely such a senior official in Kazakhstan would issue the remarks without sanction from higher up. As speaker of the Senate, Tokayev is in formal terms only second in the hierarchy to Nazarbayev.

 

The date of Nazarbayev’s departure from the top of Kazakhstan’s political pyramid has for years been object of sustained speculation and this may be the clearest indication to date that a definitive exit strategy has been crafted.

 

There have been tentative signs in the recent past that a transition of sorts is in the offing.

 

Early in 2017, Nazarbayev, who turns 78 on July 6, issued a televised declaration nebulously outlining his desire to formally dilute the powers of the president and shift toward a more parliamentary form of government.

 

“The basic essence is that the president will give some of his powers to parliament and the government,” he said in a January 25, 2017, address televised on all national channels. “The proposed reform is a serious redistribution of power and a democratization of the political system as a whole.”

 

As outlined by Nazarbayev, those reforms will give the executive more powers over running the economy, while the head of state retains control over defense and foreign policy. The head of the Constitutional Council, Kairat Mami, met with Nazarbayev earlier this week to debrief him on the progress being made in progress toward overhauling the constitution, but few details were provided by the president’s office on the substance of the conversation.

 

In the broader picture, the planned transition toward a highly consensual model of parliamentarianism indicates that Nazarbayev intends to be Kazakhstan’s first and last all-powerful head of state.

 

Parliament is at present overwhelmingly dominated by Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan party. A pair of officially sanctioned ersatz opposition parties have been allowed to occupy 14 out of the legislature’s 107 seats in the directly elected lower house of parliament.

 

Genuinely confrontational political parties have been either sidelined into irrelevance through harassment and by being ignored by media almost entirely under the thumb of the government or banned altogether. Sensing the prospect of change at the top, some opposition activists are seeking to mobilize in order to seize the initiative in a post-Nazarbayev era, although it is unclear they possess the organizational nous or the public appeal to capitalize on the moment.

 

Strong legal guarantees have also been put in place for Nazarbayev in anticipation of his departure from office.

 

In 2010, he was proclaimed Leader of the Nation, a bespoke status endowing him with lifetime powers and immunity from prosecution. Meanwhile, it was made a criminal offense punishable by up to a year in prison to make remarks insulting Nazarbayev. And journalists publishing insulting remarks about Nazarbayev could face a maximum penalty of three years in prison.

 

To begin with, he made a show of disdaining the Leader of the Nation honorific, which was supposedly the autonomous initiative of lawmakers, and demanded in a performance of modesty that people stop delivering eulogies to him. But when it came time to vetoing the proposal, he disdained the opportunity.

 

This is all to say that even if Nazarbayev does decide to step down, he will still retain immense influence over running the country.

 

https:// eurasianet.org/s/kazakhstan-senate-speaker-signals-nazarbayev-wont-run-in-2020

Anonymous ID: d1634d June 20, 2018, 9:38 p.m. No.1842067   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2076 >>2201

Meanwhile in Armenia

 

Armenia’s revolutionary government steps up anti-corruption purge

 

A former ruling party MP and mob boss are detained, and the nation cheers the crackdown.

 

Grigor Atanesian Jun 19, 2018

 

Screenshot of a video of a security services' raid on the home of MP Manvel Grigoryan after he was arrested on corruption charges.

 

Armenia's authorities have accelerated their campaign against officials in the former government with a series of anti-corruption arrests, heightening the battle between the new regime and the former elite.

 

After Nikol Pashinyan was elected prime minister May 8 largely on the strength of an anti-corruption platform, his new team took a cautious approach toward allegedly corrupt former officials. Pashinyan's pick to head the National Security Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsyan, emphasized the need to tackle corruption but took a relatively nonconfrontational approach.

 

Throughout May, the NSS publicly presented evidence of tax fraud committed by a number of companies, including those controlled by a former ruling Republican Party member of parliament. But Vanetsyan had said that he considered reimbursement of damages made to the state sufficient grounds for dropping criminal charges, and no high-profile arrests were made in connection to these charges.

 

But in June, the campaign has taken a more aggressive turn. On June 14, the NSS arrested two senior officials in the Yerevan city government, which is still controlled by Republicans. On June 16, in the city of Etchmiadzin, the houses of Republican MP Manvel Grigoryan, a retired lieutenant general in the Armenian armed forces, and mob boss Artur Asatryan (known as “Don Pipo”) were raided by masked NSS officers. Both men were arrested on illegal weapons procurement charges, with Asatryan also accused of kidnapping.

 

Grigoryan’s supporters and allies mobilized after his arrest. RPA spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov called the arrest “unconstitutional and unlawful.” His concerns were reiterated by Armen Ashotyan, another high-profile Republican MP (Ashotyan later deleted his Facebook post). At the same time, supporters of the detained general gathered to protest at NSS headquarters and even tried to close down a street.

 

Returning from a short visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, Pashinyan also weighed in. In a Facebook live video, he claimed that at Grigoryan’s mansion, the NSS found not only arms but also food sent by schoolchildren in April 2016, intended for soldiers on the frontlines in Nagorno-Karabakh. A few hours later, footage of the search of Grigoryan’s house was broadcast by Armenian public television.

 

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Anonymous ID: d1634d June 20, 2018, 9:39 p.m. No.1842076   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2116

>>1842067

The video shook the nation. At Grigoryan’s country house, a small arsenal of guns, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, some 12,000 rounds of ammunition, explosives, and hand grenades was stocked next to Hummer and Range Rover SUVs and vehicles donated to the army, including an ambulance car.

 

The video also shows cans of food preservatives and first aid kits, labeled “for soldiers” and “not for sale” and accompanied by hand-written letters from kids. As head of the veterans union Yerkrapah, Grigoryan was responsible for delivering aid to the army. Instead, he used it to feed tigers and bears at his private zoo, the NSS said.

 

The chilling effect of these accusations deeply undermined support for Grigoryan. In subsequent statements, the RPA’s Ashotyan and Sharmanazov both appeared shaken and emotional. Grigoryan’s lawyer stepped down, refusing to defend him. From jail, Grigoryan addressed his fellow RPA lawmakers, asking them to strip him of immunity and promising to restore his good name. His son Karen Grigoryan, who served as a mayor of Etchmiadzin, resigned.

 

Armenians appeared both shocked and overwhelmingly supportive of the arrests. Facebook, Armenia’s primary space of political expression, exploded. “Vanetsyan Artur rocks :) Yes, I never thought I’d have a positive opinion about the NSS”, wrote Daniel Ionnisyan, founder of the Union of Informed Citizens, a Yerevan-based watchdog group. “How cool is that, when one feels safe because of the NSS,” echoed Arek Keshishian, an Aleppo-born architect who repatriated to Armenia few years ago. The head of the NSS said that the agency is currently receiving “thousands of job applications” from citizens.

 

For decades, the Grigoryans served as a symbol of ubiquitous corruption, lawlessness and systemic violence. They used to rule the city of Etchmiadzin, a home to the Mother See of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as a private fiefdom. Investigative outlets reported tax evasion; but city residents have been describing a grimmer reality, one in which Grigoryan and his cronies were assaulting, raping and torturing locals.

 

The arrest and resignation of the Grigoryans were met with celebration in the city, Armenian newspapers reported. Meanwhile, Vanetsyan has warned that the service has received reports of criminal groups' plans to kill both him and Pashinyan. This suggests that Pashinyan’s signature approachable style, including nightly walks in Yerevan's downtown, is likely to be restricted by the security services.

 

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Anonymous ID: d1634d June 20, 2018, 10:04 p.m. No.1842366   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Changes in Georgia… for same or worse?

 

''Georgia gets new PM promising small government"

 

The former prime minister resigned after apparently clashing with the behind-the-scenes leader of his Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili

 

Bradley Jardine Jun 18, 2018

Georgia has a new prime minister-designate after a surprise decision by former premier Giorgi Kvirikashvili to step down.

 

Finance Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze now heads Georgia’s government after the country’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, nominated him for the role of prime minister. Bakhtadze, a former CEO of Georgian Railways, has announced a series of structural changes to the cabinet that will see key Kvirikashvili allies removed from office.

 

Bakhtadze’s appointment follows Kvirikashvili’s decision to resign on June 13, citing “disagreements on fundamental issues” with Georgian Dream chairman, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. The resignation followed weeks of protests in the Georgian capital.

 

Kvirikashvili’s decision triggered the resignation of his cabinet.

 

Prime Minister-designate Bakhtadze has indicated that he intends to remove ministers close to his predecessor. On June 18, he announced a major shake-up in the cabinet according to what he called the principle of “small government.” The move will reduce the number of government ministries from 14 to 11.

 

“[Small government] entails flexible and effective government institutions,” he said.

 

Bakhtadze also announced that six ministries will see personnel changes, but did not elaborate on which ministers would be replaced.

 

The changes will require a fast-track acceptance procedure. According to Georgian law, structural changes to cabinet require a separate amendment process. Bakhtadze said the cabinet will undergo a vote of confidence, scheduled for June 20, featuring 14 acting ministers, before being presented to parliament again, with just 11 ministers, following the amendment process.

 

The prime minister-designate has also asked for the approval process to be sped up during the initial vote of confidence so that there can be more deliberation during the second phase. This second phase will take place within two to three weeks of phase one, according to Bakhtadze.

 

The shake-up will see two close associates of the former prime minister removed from office. When the 14-member cabinet of ministers is presented to parliament for the first phase it will exclude both Minister of Economy Dimitri Kumsishvili and Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze, both of whom will be replaced by their deputies for the vote.

 

Along with small government, the prime minister-designate outlined other key components of his agenda during his four-minute acceptance speech on June 14. Bakhtadze said the “completion of the Georgian people’s historic choice – integration into the Euro-Atlantic space” would be of prime importance.

 

His speech also touched on innovation, which would be stimulated via the introduction of an undefined “new economic model.” Bakhtadze also emphasised education reform, which will play a key role in Georgia’s strategy to reconnect with its breakaway territories.

 

“It is exactly the enthusiastic, educated, entrepreneurial and confident youth who will place Georgia on the map of developed economies,” he said. “It is exactly such a Georgia we offer to our Abkhaz and [South] Ossetian brothers, so that we can return to a single family.”

 

https:// eurasianet.org/s/georgia-gets-new-pm-promising-small-government