Kyrgyzstan: 12 officials of the Ministry of Transport were detained on suspicion of corruption
The General Director of the State Directorate of Bishkek-Osh Highway, as well as the heads of the tunnel posts Sosnovka and Kara-Kul were detained. This was reported by the press service of the State Service for combating economic crimes.
In this case, 12 senior officials of the structural units of the Ministry of Transport and Roads of Kyrgyzstan were detained. Preliminary damage is more than $269 000 (20 million KGS).
“The investigation within the framework of the case is establishing the involvement of the top officials of the Ministry of Transport and Roads of the Kyrgyz Republic, officials of local authorities and other departments in the indicated corruption schemes,” Financial police noted.
Earlier it was reported that the Financial police identified and stopped a corruption scheme in the implementation of road and transport control, in which three employees of the State Directorate of the Highway were involved. The damage to the state budget is estimated at $134 500 (10 million KGS) for only one stationary post.
“They changed the country of origin of the foreign car, reduced the actual dimensions of the car, while charging a fare according to the established tariff. At the same time, incorrect changes were made to the automated system with a significant underestimation of the amount, and they appropriated the difference to themselves,” the State Service for combating economic crimes explained.
This is not the first detention in the Ministry of Transport. The day before, the officers of the weight and oversight control were also suspected of corruption. According to Financial police, a criminal group of officials of the weight and oversight control under the Ministry of Transport and Roads of the Kyrgyz Republic regularly extorted money from heavy truck drivers.
“It has been established that the amount of extortion varied up to $30 (2000 KGS) for one car,” the State Service for combating economic crimes added.
All facts are registered in the Unified Register under articles 326 “Extortion of a bribe” and 319 “Corruption” of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. The detainees are placed in the pre-trial detention center of Bishkek.
