Kyrgyz Prosecutor's Office trying to track money funneled by son of ex-president Bakiyev
BISHKEK. July 29 (Interfax) - The Prosecutor General's Office of Kyrgyzstan is making efforts to repatriate funds funneled from the country by Maxim Bakiyev, the younger son of former Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and his entourage.
"The Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office of Kyrgyzstan has been appointed the authority in charge of ensuring the return of assets that were stolen from the republic by the younger son of former President Bakiyev and members of his entourage," Deputy Prosecutor General Lyudmila Usmanova told Interfax on Monday.
She said that this is a pressing issue for the Prosecutor General's Office as "it is handling several criminal cases considering the younger son of the former president, Maxim Bakiyev, and his close associates."
Usmanova added that after the change of power in Kyrgyzstan in 2010 and the launch of several criminal cases in connection with Bakiyev and his associates "queries were directed toward the United States, among other countries, with regard to these suspects but so far there has been no reply."
"The Prosecutor General's Office of Kyrgyzstan has compiled the relevant queries. We are waiting for the receipt of information from the relevant authorities of the countries to which they were sent, and after that it will be possible to speak of any sums or their origin," Usmanova said.
"It is difficult to speak of any timeframe for the return of assets because correspondence is under way. A multilateral convention on fighting corruption is the basis for the queries to the countries with which Kyrgyzstan does not have bilateral agreements," she said.
"The differences in legal systems [with the United States] mean that additional information may be required and this may take a long time," Usmanova said.
After the change of power in Kyrgyzstan former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been living in Belarus and his younger son has resided in Great Britain. In the United States Maxim Bakiyev was charged with machinations on the stock market, but the charges against him were dropped in May 2013.
