Why is the President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov hiding his farm from the Tax service? And where does his property disappear every year?
The State Tax service of the Kyrgyz Republic completed the declaration campaign-2018 and began to publish its results. Among the first was the income declaration of the President Sooronbai Jeenbekov in the status of the state’s head.
According to the data indicated in the declaration, last year the President earned about $13 000 (902 785 KGS). The document also states that Sooronbai Jeenbekov has 23 land plots of agricultural purpose, with a total area of just over 47 hectares and 6 hundred square meters of a plot near house. In addition, in the list of real estate he has a residential building with an area of 160 square meters.
Concerning the movable property, the head of Kyrgyzstan has only the tractor MTЗ-80. Jeenbekov invariably indicates it in his every declaration.
Last year, the President’s closest relatives earned $60 000 (4.2 million KGS), that is $7000 (500 000 KGS) more than in 2017. As for the real estate, they have 13 land plots with an area of 23 hectares and an apartment of 64 square meters.
The list of personal assets of the President’s relatives contains a car Lexus-470, as well as cattle and horses to the sum of $109 000 (7 million 640 thousand KGS).
In 2017, at two main places of work [the Prime Minister and the President], Jeenbekov earned $12 000 (890 994 KGS). He also owned a house, land, as well as the tractor MTЗ-80. 3700 trees and a trailer, which were specified in the declaration for 2016, disappeared from his property.
In 2016, Jeenbekov’s income amounted to $12 000 (870 001 KGS). In declaration for 2016, he stated that he owned the house mentioned above, a 60-square-meter summer residence and 48.04 hectares of agricultural land. He also had 1700 apple trees, 2000 poplars and a trailer. The tractor MTЗ-80 was also on the property list.
At the same time, 2000 units of green spaces, a trade pavilion, a land plot of 8 acres, another plot of 1.08 hectares, and a shed of 120 square meters disappeared from the declaration for 2016. All of these items were indicated in the declaration for 2015.
At the same time, it is not clear whether this property was sold (and then it should be indicated in income) or it was simply given away.
It is interesting that the then Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic did not include his expenses in the declaration, although the law requires officials to indicate expenses in excess of 3000 times the estimated figure. This looks strange, because in 2016, the only daughter of Sooronbai Jeenbekov, Baktygul, married Atabek Abzhaliev, the son of Aliyarbek Abzhaliev, the deputy of the Kyrgyz Parliament’s faction “Ata Zhurt” [“Fatherland”].
The celebration was obviously costly. Such conclusions can be drawn from the video from the wedding, which hit the Internet.
However, it is possible that all expenses for organizing this luxurious holiday were borne by the bridegroom’s family.
In July 2018, at a regular workshop with the participation of the secretariat of the Security Council of the Kyrgyz Republic, the President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov warned officials about the need to carefully review the declarations of income and expenses of all public servants, without exception.
“Check each ministry and department for existing corruption schemes, each official individually. I repeat once again that the fight against corruption must be ruthless, despite the ranks and positions. Citizens are waiting for concrete actions and tough measures to eradicate corruption,” Jeenbekov said then.
However, the head of state himself obviously does not attach so much importance to the need to carefully fill out declarative documents. The ACCA found in open sources data on a business entity owned by the President Sooronbai Jeenbekov and not mentioned in the President’s declaration.
The electronic database of legal entities of the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic contains data on the farm “Sharip Ata” engaged in cattle breeding. This organization was registered in September 2002, and so far its sole founder and first leader is Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
It is not clear why the state’s head did not indicate in his declaration data on his farm, which he has owned for 17 years.
The Kyrgyz political analyst Mars Sariev said to ACCA that hiding such information is considered a violation of the law. However, according to the expert, today all declarations of income and expenses of Kyrgyz officials should be considered with great skepticism. Not long ago, a resonant investigation of radio “Svoboda” [“Liberty”] was published, in which journalists clearly showed how the persons, involved in this case, declare their income. This is about the disclosure of smuggling schemes, which, according to the authors of the investigation, involved large officials and politicians of Kyrgyzstan, including the former deputy head of the State Customs Service, Raimbek Matraimov. The latter is popularly known as Raim-Million, and his name is constantly associated with the President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
“All this suggests that the declaration is a scrap of paper. There can be no trust in such documents. What they really have and what they declare are two different things. In conditions when we do not have a truly legal state, any citizen can doubt the data that officials indicate. I think there should be a primacy of law and the inexorability of punishment. We need legal reform; the courts must work. Unfortunately, today we live more by definition than by law,” said the Kyrgyz political analyst Mars Sariev.
Leave feedback about this