Rare protest in Kyrgyzstan after report claims massive graft

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Nov 25 (AFP/APP): Hundreds of protesters held a rare demonstration in Kyrgyzstan on Monday sparked by a whistleblower’s claims of massive official corruption.

The whistleblower who spoke to journalists was a Chinese Uighur businessman involved in the bribery that he exposed. He fled the country saying he feared for his life, but was murdered in Turkey this month.

Demonstrators held a march and a rally outside the main government building in Bishkek in response to a dramatic report claiming corrupt officials took huge pay-offs in return for turning a blind eye to smuggling millions of dollars out of the impoverished country.

The rally with many young people participating appeared to be an expression of grassroots outrage at the large-scale graft, as it was not called by any prominent politician. Local media reported up to 1,000 participants.

One protester, 57-year-old Kenzhebek, called the revelations the “final straw” for Kyrgyzstan, the second poorest of the former Soviet republics.

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“Today, unfortunately, we see the authorities following the same corrupt path as previous presidents,” Kenzhebek told AFP.

The report authored by the US-based Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz service and the independent Kyrgyz news website Kloop.kg came out Thursday.

It cites the whistleblower as saying a powerful China-born tradesman of Uighur descent paid huge bribes to the customs service to enable the smuggling scheme.