The story of inspections and prosecution of employees of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations continues.
According to ACCA sources in the power structure of the country, only a few officials received prison sentences. The main corrupt officials, who are relatives of the President, were not brought to justice.
ACCA also became aware of the theft and appropriation of confiscated property from those arrested in this case by law enforcement officers. As it turned out, for more than four years, corrupt officials illegally sold foodstuffs for $430 million.
These foodstuffs’ speculations were carried out directly with the participation of the President’s relatives, structures of the Ministry of National Security, the police and the Prosecutor’s Office, but no one from the power structure was held criminally liable. The security forces are covered by the relatives of the former President, who are also cousins and relatives of the current President, Serdar Berdymukhamedov.
According to our sources, the cousin of Serdar Berdymukhamedov, Khadzhimurad Rejepov, and not a direct relative of Serdar, Kemal Rejepov, as well as the security forces appropriated up to 60% of the profits from the illegal sale of foodstuffs intended for the country’s poor people.
When detaining and arresting the loot, the security forces appropriated the confiscated gold, the relatives of the Prosecutor General Batyr Atdaev became sudden owners of several premium cars, and the employees of the Ministry of National Security enriched themselves by $1.5 million, this is exactly the amount that disappeared during the investigation.
This is not the first story of major theft involving relatives of Serdar Berdymukhamedov. Thus, Gundogar, Turkmen. News and OCCRP published an investigation into how Khadzhimurad Rejepov received $26 million from his uncle Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to buy food and built a huge mansion. ACCA sources state that in this shady deal, the cousin of Serdar Berdymukhamedov, Khadzhimurad Rejepov, enriched himself by at least $190 million. Now, the Rejepovs are trying not to open companies outside the country, because they need to register all their income there, and in Turkmenistan they can steal without any delay and on a much larger scale.
