Kyrgyz media reports cited Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (SCNS) as saying on September 13 that the former prosecutor-general of Kyrgyzstan, Azimbek Beknazarov, was detained a day earlier on suspicion of having been involved in money laundering.
Beknazarov was reportedly detained on September 12 after the SCNS summoned him for questioning. According to the SCNS press center, the politician, known by the nickname “Bulldozer of Revolutions,” is suspected of embezzling and laundering illegally obtained funds.
SCNS officials clarified that criminal proceedings have been instituted against Beknazarov for the theft and embezzlement of money seized from bank cells and the Government House during the events of April 2010.
According to the investigation, the suspect is implicated in the misappropriation of large sums, although the exact amount of stolen funds was not specified by the security service.
The investigation suggests that Beknazarov “laundered” the illegally obtained money through the purchase of real estate, which he subsequently registered under the names of proxy individuals. In particular, this involves expensive properties in Issyk-Kul, Bishkek, Chuy, and Jalal-Abad regions.
Consequently, the “Bulldozer of Revolutions” was placed in the SCNS-run pretrial detention facility.
Azimbek Beknazarov is a Kyrgyz statesman with a legal education. He has been a member of parliament for several years. From March to September 2005, he held the position of the country’s Prosecutor-General.
Beknazarov is reportedly an active participant in the coups of 2005 and 2010, which earned him the nickname “Bulldozer of Revolutions”. In 2010, he worked as the deputy prime minister of the interim government. The politician was also among the defendants in the “Kempir-Abad case,” for which he was acquitted along with his associates in June of this year.
Beknazarov, 68, was among 27 activists acquitted in June of charges of "calling for mass unrest" and "plotting the seizure of power" in a high-profile case related to a deal that saw Kyrgyzstan hand over a disputed reservoir to Uzbekistan last year.
