Crossroads Asia | Economy | Central Asia

Corruption Allegations at Kyrgyzneftgas Put Tashiev’s Network in the Crosshairs

The head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Tax Service has alleged that “Kyrgyzneftegaz was completely under the control of the State Committee for National Security,” amid an unfolding corruption case.

An October 2020 photo of Kamchybek Tashiev and Sadyr Japarov

A nephew of Kyrgyzstan’s recently dismissed security chief Kamchybek Tashiev was reportedly detained in connection with a corruption case involving state-owned Kyrgyzneftegaz. The alleged corruption was exposed in a video report produced by the State Tax Service.

But the sordid tale is far from new: In 2022 Kyrgyz investigative outlet Temirov Live reported on exactly the same schemes, earning founder Bolor Temirov the direct ire of the state, ultimately leading to the revocation of his citizenship and his deportation. The pressure did not stop in 2022, but has continued. Temirov Live was declared extremist by a Kyrgyz court in October 2025.

On March 16, the Kyrgyz State Tax Service’s PR department released an investigation titled “Oil for Their Own: How Kyrgyzneftegaz Was Ruined,” which alleged that over the last five years Kyrgyzneftegaz lost over 4 billion soms (around $45.7 million) in various shadowy schemes. The allegedly pilfered funds, the State Tax Service claimed, ended up in the pockets of relatives and close associates of Tashiev.

The program outlined three schemes: the writing off of 29,000 tons of oil as “production losses,” far in excess of typical losses; the diversion of crude oil to private companies before being sold back to the state oil refinery, the Kyrgyz Petroleum Company; and finally the selling of petroleum products through a select collection of private companies.

Within a day, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Investigative Service announced it had opened a criminal corruption case. On March 18, four people were detained: the former chairman of the board of JSC Kyrgyzneftegaz, Nurgazy Nishanov; the former deputy chairman of the board, Ruslan Altymyshev; and the directors of two affiliated companies, Region Oil and the Kyrgyz Petroleum Company (itself a subsidiary of Kyrgyzneftegaz), Nazgul Aidarova and Baigazy Matisakov, respectively.

Matisakov is Tashiev’s nephew. Another of Tashiev’s nephews, Baigazy’s brother Nurgazy, was reportedly dismissed from his post as head of the transport prosecutor’s office in mid-February.

Before the arrests, media reports claimed that Tashiev’s son, Tai-Muras Tashiev, had been summoned for questioning. RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, Azattyk, reported that the Ministry of Internal Affairs “neither confirmed nor denied this information.”

Tai-Muras – who is listed as the founder of Moka Group in government records – had taken to Facebook on March 17 to respond to the State Tax Service’s investigation, taking issue with its description of Moka Group’s business. Tai-Muras disputed the State Tax Service’s allegation that Moka Group had acquired a monopoly over the Kyrgyz Petroleum Company by buying all of its diesel fuel supplies and shutting out other buyers. 

In light of the elder Tashiev’s sudden dismissal in February, and his prominent role in both the administration’s anti-corruption campaign and the crackdown on media, it’s difficult to read this turn of events as anything but a purging of Tashiev’s allies, a curtailing of his financial flows.

Tashiev himself appears front and center in promotional materials for the State Tax Service’s video report.

Promotional material with the title of the State Tax Service’s investigation – “Oil for Their Own: How Kyrgyzneftegaz Was Ruined” – featuring Kamshybek Tashiev in the middle and his son, Tai-Muras, on the far right.

State Tax Service Head Almambet Shykmamatov told journalists that during Tashiev’s time as chairman of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), “Kyrgyzneftegaz was completely under the control of the State Committee for National Security…. It was impossible to audit Kyrgyzneftegaz. Now the tax authorities have the opportunity – we conducted an audit and investigation. There were two options: either make it public or conceal it. We decided to make it public.”

As scholar Aksana Ismailbekova wrote in May 2024 for The Diplomat, the Japarov-Tashiev tandem had one crucial strength: “Its ability to accumulate money and use that money to secure power, and not just by simple bribery.”

Ismailbekova’s conclusion is worth pondering as the State Tax Service’s allegations spiral into likely criminal trials:

Money serves to reinforce the tandem’s cohesion, yet it also holds the potential for future conflict. Even though both Japarov and Tashiev appear to be benefiting from their friendship, there are already rumors that suggest the tandem is not so solid. Currently, money amounting to billions (from various sources such as racketeering, customs, transportation, trade, and energy) is flowing into their coffers, but this dynamic may shift in the future.  At the moment, and despite the rumors, the allure of wealth motivates both Japarov and Tashiev to maintain a facade of unity and preserve their collective power through performance of that unity. While money currently bolsters their authority, it also poses a looming threat to their future stability.  The next step is to closely monitor the trajectory of the tandem, the tensions and disagreements within its networks, and the performance of “friendship” between the tandem’s two heads. [Anthropologist Marshall] Sahlins’ modes of negative reciprocity have, so far, brought a kind of stability and security with tandem rule in Kyrgyzstan.  Who can really say whether that stability will last forever?

Money serves to reinforce the tandem’s cohesion, yet it also holds the potential for future conflict. Even though both Japarov and Tashiev appear to be benefiting from their friendship, there are already rumors that suggest the tandem is not so solid. Currently, money amounting to billions (from various sources such as racketeering, customs, transportation, trade, and energy) is flowing into their coffers, but this dynamic may shift in the future. 

At the moment, and despite the rumors, the allure of wealth motivates both Japarov and Tashiev to maintain a facade of unity and preserve their collective power through performance of that unity. While money currently bolsters their authority, it also poses a looming threat to their future stability. 

The next step is to closely monitor the trajectory of the tandem, the tensions and disagreements within its networks, and the performance of “friendship” between the tandem’s two heads. [Anthropologist Marshall] Sahlins’ modes of negative reciprocity have, so far, brought a kind of stability and security with tandem rule in Kyrgyzstan. 

Who can really say whether that stability will last forever?

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A nephew of Kyrgyzstan’s recently dismissed security chief Kamchybek Tashiev was reportedly detained in connection with a corruption case involving state-owned Kyrgyzneftegaz. The alleged corruption was exposed in a video report produced by the State Tax Service.

But the sordid tale is far from new: In 2022 Kyrgyz investigative outlet Temirov Live reported on exactly the same schemes, earning founder Bolor Temirov the direct ire of the state, ultimately leading to the revocation of his citizenship and his deportation. The pressure did not stop in 2022, but has continued. Temirov Live was declared extremist by a Kyrgyz court in October 2025.

On March 16, the Kyrgyz State Tax Service’s PR department released an investigation titled “Oil for Their Own: How Kyrgyzneftegaz Was Ruined,” which alleged that over the last five years Kyrgyzneftegaz lost over 4 billion soms (around $45.7 million) in various shadowy schemes. The allegedly pilfered funds, the State Tax Service claimed, ended up in the pockets of relatives and close associates of Tashiev.

The program outlined three schemes: the writing off of 29,000 tons of oil as “production losses,” far in excess of typical losses; the diversion of crude oil to private companies before being sold back to the state oil refinery, the Kyrgyz Petroleum Company; and finally the selling of petroleum products through a select collection of private companies.

Within a day, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Investigative Service announced it had opened a criminal corruption case. On March 18, four people were detained: the former chairman of the board of JSC Kyrgyzneftegaz, Nurgazy Nishanov; the former deputy chairman of the board, Ruslan Altymyshev; and the directors of two affiliated companies, Region Oil and the Kyrgyz Petroleum Company (itself a subsidiary of Kyrgyzneftegaz), Nazgul Aidarova and Baigazy Matisakov, respectively.

Matisakov is Tashiev’s nephew. Another of Tashiev’s nephews, Baigazy’s brother Nurgazy, was reportedly dismissed from his post as head of the transport prosecutor’s office in mid-February.

Before the arrests, media reports claimed that Tashiev’s son, Tai-Muras Tashiev, had been summoned for questioning. RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, Azattyk, reported that the Ministry of Internal Affairs “neither confirmed nor denied this information.”

Tai-Muras – who is listed as the founder of Moka Group in government records – had taken to Facebook on March 17 to respond to the State Tax Service’s investigation, taking issue with its description of Moka Group’s business. Tai-Muras disputed the State Tax Service’s allegation that Moka Group had acquired a monopoly over the Kyrgyz Petroleum Company by buying all of its diesel fuel supplies and shutting out other buyers. 

In light of the elder Tashiev’s sudden dismissal in February, and his prominent role in both the administration’s anti-corruption campaign and the crackdown on media, it’s difficult to read this turn of events as anything but a purging of Tashiev’s allies, a curtailing of his financial flows.

Tashiev himself appears front and center in promotional materials for the State Tax Service’s video report.

Promotional material with the title of the State Tax Service’s investigation – “Oil for Their Own: How Kyrgyzneftegaz Was Ruined” – featuring Kamshybek Tashiev in the middle and his son, Tai-Muras, on the far right.

State Tax Service Head Almambet Shykmamatov told journalists that during Tashiev’s time as chairman of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), “Kyrgyzneftegaz was completely under the control of the State Committee for National Security…. It was impossible to audit Kyrgyzneftegaz. Now the tax authorities have the opportunity – we conducted an audit and investigation. There were two options: either make it public or conceal it. We decided to make it public.”

As scholar Aksana Ismailbekova wrote in May 2024 for The Diplomat, the Japarov-Tashiev tandem had one crucial strength: “Its ability to accumulate money and use that money to secure power, and not just by simple bribery.”

Ismailbekova’s conclusion is worth pondering as the State Tax Service’s allegations spiral into likely criminal trials:

Money serves to reinforce the tandem’s cohesion, yet it also holds the potential for future conflict. Even though both Japarov and Tashiev appear to be benefiting from their friendship, there are already rumors that suggest the tandem is not so solid. Currently, money amounting to billions (from various sources such as racketeering, customs, transportation, trade, and energy) is flowing into their coffers, but this dynamic may shift in the future.  At the moment, and despite the rumors, the allure of wealth motivates both Japarov and Tashiev to maintain a facade of unity and preserve their collective power through performance of that unity. While money currently bolsters their authority, it also poses a looming threat to their future stability.  The next step is to closely monitor the trajectory of the tandem, the tensions and disagreements within its networks, and the performance of “friendship” between the tandem’s two heads. [Anthropologist Marshall] Sahlins’ modes of negative reciprocity have, so far, brought a kind of stability and security with tandem rule in Kyrgyzstan.  Who can really say whether that stability will last forever?

Money serves to reinforce the tandem’s cohesion, yet it also holds the potential for future conflict. Even though both Japarov and Tashiev appear to be benefiting from their friendship, there are already rumors that suggest the tandem is not so solid. Currently, money amounting to billions (from various sources such as racketeering, customs, transportation, trade, and energy) is flowing into their coffers, but this dynamic may shift in the future. 

At the moment, and despite the rumors, the allure of wealth motivates both Japarov and Tashiev to maintain a facade of unity and preserve their collective power through performance of that unity. While money currently bolsters their authority, it also poses a looming threat to their future stability. 

The next step is to closely monitor the trajectory of the tandem, the tensions and disagreements within its networks, and the performance of “friendship” between the tandem’s two heads. [Anthropologist Marshall] Sahlins’ modes of negative reciprocity have, so far, brought a kind of stability and security with tandem rule in Kyrgyzstan. 

Who can really say whether that stability will last forever?

Catherine Putz is managing editor of The Diplomat.

Kyrgyzstan corruption

Kyrgyzstan State Tax Service

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