Turkmenistan: head of the Migration Service was detained on suspicion of corruption
The head of the State Migration Service of Turkmenistan, Mergen Gurdov, was dismissed from his post on October 7 and then arrested by employees of the Ministry of National Security.
Gurdov was charged with corruption, abuse of power and extortion on an especially large scale. It is known that Gurdov obliged his subordinates, who work as heads of regional departments of the Migration Service, to pay him about $ 20 thousand a month. Also, large sums of money were extorted from citizens for the timely registration and issuance of passports for traveling abroad.
Since 2017, under the patronage of Gurdov, smugglers have freely exported gold items, confiscated by the special services, to foreign countries for further sale; they exported Turkmen handmade carpets duty-free abroad, and expensive cars were also imported into the country in violation of the law. All these machinations were carried out in close liaison with employees of the Customs Service and employees of the Ministry of National Security. Probably that’s why the investigation into the case of Gurdov is being conducted by the employees of the Ministry of National Security, and not by the Prosecutor’s office.
According to an ACCA source, for bribes, Gurdov removed the data of citizens of Turkmenistan, who were not allowed to travel, from the general database and issued passports for these persons. Some persons, who were involved in these criminal schemes, have also been detained and are under arrest. During the investigative measures, about 4.5 kg of gold jewelry, prepared for export abroad, was revealed. According to our source, among these gold jewelry, there were the jewels which were confiscated from ex-Interior Minister Mulikov. The investigation also found that during the pandemic with closed borders, Gurdov and his accomplices exported gold, carpets and large amounts of money abroad.
Meanwhile, independent Turkmen publications reported that the confiscated property of the former Interior Minister E. Mulikov was put up for auction in Turkmenistan. These are real estate and several luxury cars. The investigation into the case of Gurdov continues.
