In Ashgabat city and Akhal region, following an inspection by the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, 14 people were prosecuted. Nine of them were sentenced to 8 years in prison. One defendant was sentenced to 15 years and four were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The officials were convicted of crimes such as corruption, misappropriation of entrusted property or embezzlement, accepting large bribes, official forgery, legalization of funds and other property acquired illegally, giving bribes, violating trade rules and defrauding consumers.
The Prosecutor General of Turkmenistan, Batyr Atdaev, in his report to the President, said that among the convicts there are sellers, heads of food warehouses and heads of regional and district consumer unions. Checks were carried out in stores and warehouses in Ashgabat and Akhal region.
Convicted officials and accomplices of these crimes made their living by scamming with food sold to the population at state prices (they sold flour, vegetable oil, sugar and chicken legs at commercial prices). Thus, flour, intended for sale to the population at subsidized price (50 manats per 1 bag), was sold to private bakeries and shops at a price of 400 manats per 1 bag, and the population couldn’t get their food rations.
Large sums of money, gold and other property were confiscated from all the convicts.
It’s worth recalling that Turkmenistan has dropped to 169th place in the annual study of the Corruption Perceptions Index, conducted by the international non-governmental organization “Transparency International”.
