Kyrgyzstan lifts charges against ex-official under US sanctions

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan said on Thursday it had released from jail and lifted criminal charges against a key powerbroker who is under US sanctions over alleged smuggling activities.

Rayimbek Matraimov, a former top customs official, was a focus of anti-graft protests in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek and the US Treasury slapped sanctions on both him and his wife last year.

New President Sadyr Japarov, who saw his powers expanded in a referendum on Sunday, has repeatedly denied striking agreements with Matraimov, who is widely believed to have financed the political campaigns of Japarov’s two predecessors.

The national security committee said on Thursday that it had investigated Matraimov for "laundering criminal income" through purchases of foreign properties but had found no evidence against him or his family.

The allegations of foreign-held properties, originally raised in a media investigation published in 2019 "were not confirmed" after Kyrgyzstan filed information requests with authorities in several countries, the committee said.

The media investigation published by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project alleged that Matraimov had served as a gatekeeper of a smuggling ring that had seen more than $700 million shipped out of the country where average monthly incomes hover around the equivalent of $100.

He is widely believed to be one of the most powerful people in the landlocked country of 6.5 million people that borders China and sends hundreds of thousands of citizens to work in Russia every year.