In Turkmenistan, Minister of National Security was removed from office due to corruption

In Turkmenistan, the Minister of National Security, Yaylym Berdyev, was removed from office. Gurbanmurad Annaev, who was the Deputy Minister of National Security of Turkmenistan, will take his place. The President of Turkmenistan Berdymukhamedov, on February 12, relieved Berdyev from office “in connection with his transfer to another job”.

Recall that Berdyev became the head of the Ministry of National Security in June 2018. At the beginning of this year, Berdymukhamedov announced a severe reprimand to the head of the Ministry of National Security and there were a number of reasons for that, then Berdyev lost his post of secretary of the Security Council and was demoted in two ranks, from Colonel General to Major General and from December 3 last year, a property check was conducted and the financial condition of the now former head of the MNS Berdyev.

Sources from Turkmenistan reported that during the audit more than 20 gross violations of the law by Berdyev were identified. Also, dissatisfaction with the work of the former head of the Ministry of National Security was caused by the fact that Berdyev has weakened control over citizens of Turkmenistan in other countries, namely, more and more citizens of Turkmenistan join the ranks of ISIS militants and take part in armed conflicts on the side of terrorist organizations. An example of this is that in December, Afghan government forces detained several Turkmen citizens on their territory who took part in hostilities on the side of anti-government forces. According to an ACCA source, the former head of the MNS was informed of the incident, but did not take appropriate measures even after the Afghan side provided evidence. The appeal of the Afghan side remained unanswered, and then all these data were directly transmitted to the President of Turkmenistan.

Also during the investigative measures carried out on the cases of ex-heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mulikov Esgander, chief of security of the President, Nobatov Meilis, and businessman Kulov Charymuhammed, it was found that almost all violations in these cases were committed by direct order of Berdyev, or with his consent. Investigation of the criminal activities of Berdyev was done by the Prosecutor General’s office under the direct supervision of the Attorney General Atdaev Batyr. According to sources from the Prosecutor General’s office, it became known that the ex-head and some MNS officers appropriated about a third of the confiscated belongings from Mulikov, Nobatov and Kulov. In particular, Berdyev re-registered two TOYOTA cars (confiscated from Mulikov) to his distant relatives, appropriated elite apartments. A direct connection was established with the smuggling of confiscated gold to India and other countries. MNS employees stole a significant portion of the confiscated money, precious stones and gold, carpets and expensive household appliances. ACCA was provided by this information on the basis of anonymity from the General Prosecutor’s office.

Yaylym Berdyev served as head of the Ministry of National Security since mid-June 2018, it is not known what job the former head of the Ministry of National Security has been transferred to, and for what reasons he has not been prosecuted remains a mystery.