“Belarusian” scandal in Kyrgyzstan

Omurbek Babanov, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz government, is accused of secret trip to Minsk during his recent official visit to Moscow.

He met there with members of the ousted Bakiyev clan, in particular with former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his sons Maksim and Marat, Radio Svaboda reports.

As Aydanbek Tashkenbaev, a correspondent of RFE/RL Kyrgyz service, Babanov owns a cement plant in Russian Penza with Maksim Bakiyev as a co-owner.

Babanov is rumoured to have met in Minsk with Bakiyev brothers to discuss common business matters and maybe more than this.

A parliament member representing Ata Meken party, Erkin Alymbekov, demanded the general prosecutor’s office to investigate if the information regarding a secret visit of the deputy prime minister to Minsk was true.

Omurbek Babanov was in opposition to Bakiyev in the first years of the latter’s rule in 2005. He was a leader of For Reforms movement. After a year and a half he found understanding with the president and became deputy PM. Babanov holds the same post under the today’s authorities.

A parliamentary commission is examining an issue of common business of the Deputy PM and high-ranking officials of the deposed regime and other charges with corruption. Babanov temporarily resigned for a period of the investigation.

Kyrgyz vesti.kg informs that the Deputy Prime Minister renounced his share in the Penza cement plant.