Kyrgyzstan corruption

Banning domestic vape sales while preserving manufacturing for export may simply serve to expand the shadow market and line the pockets of customs officials. 

The Japarov-Tashiev tandem has sunk real roots into Kyrgyzstan’s society, and those roots are deeper and stronger than they might seem on the surface.

Over the last five years, Kyrgyz authorities have repeatedly had their hands on notoriously corrupt former official Raimbek Matraimov and each time let him go. Will this time be different?

Transparency International notes a “troubling picture” in the region as countries struggle with “dysfunctional rule of law, rising authoritarianism, and systemic corruption.”

Bishkek is on the one hand pursuing an anti-corruption campaign, but at the same time cracking down on the very media that expose such corruption.

It appears a purge is underway, as Tashiev decries the corrupt in Kyrgyzstan. 

Connectivity projects are crucial for landlocked Central Asian countries. Yet the railway brings major concerns: a lack of transparency, smuggling risks, and a possible debt trap. 

Kusturizatsia means, literally, “vomiting.” Under the practice, corrupt individuals can repay a fraction of stolen proceeds to the state and then go about their business. Who knows where the money goes?

FC Barcelona visited Kyrgyzstan to inaugurate two new football academies. Japarov is touchy about investigations into how the schools are funded.

Governments in Asia are perceived to be as corrupt as ever.

Kyrgyzstan will finally hold parliamentary elections in late November, more than a year after a botched election spun the country into political turmoil.