Crossroads Asia | Politics | Central Asia

More Questioned, Arrested, in Expanding Kyrgyzneftgas Probe

This week the former head of the National Bank and the brother of Kamchybek Tashiev were questioned, the former then detained. 

The former head of Kyrgyzstan’s National Bank is the latest to be detained in the expanding – and politically charged – Kyrgyzneftegaz probe. 

Melis Turgunbaev, who became head of the National Bank in June 2024, resigned on March 18. On March 26, after being summoned for questioning as a “witness” by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Turgunbaev was detained. 

The timing of Turgunbaev’s resignation coincided with the airing of accusations by the State Tax Service 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 Kamchybek Tashiev.

Prior to his position as chairman of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, Turgunbaev served as minister of natural resources, ecology, and technical supervision  in 2023 to 2024. But from 2013 to 2021 he worked at Kyrgyzneftegaz, first as a member of its board, then as chairman. 

Kyrgyz media characterize Turgunbaev as close to Tashiev, whose removal from his........

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