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Kyrgystan parliament promises to protect Akayev, but not his assets

Special to World Tribune.com
CENTRAL ASIA NEWSLINE
Friday, April 1, 2005

BISHKEK — The new Kyrgyzstan parliament is examining whether the state could seize the assets of ousted President Askar Akayev.

Before his resignation on Wednesday, security chief Feliks Kulov said the government would guarantee Akaev's personal safety and his assets so that he might formally resign. But Kulov has since resigned and parliamentarians said they want authorities to seize the president's huge business holding.

Adakham Madumarov, a parliamentarian and candidate for presidential elections in June, has pledged to confiscate any assets that Akaev and his family acquired dishonestly. Under Kyrgyz law, passed in 2003, Akayev could not be held criminally responsible for anything he did as president.

"He [Akayev] will have bodyguards, even more than usual, the property where he lives will be guarded, as will his movements and his meetings," Kulov said. "There should be no doubts about this."

Officials said they expect Akayev to be engaged in negotiations with Prime Minister Kurmanbek Bakiev over the future of the president's assets.

They said Bakiev does not want to seize Akayev's assets in an attempt to assuage foreign investors in Kyrgyzstan. The president and his family own businesses said to be the most profitable in Kyrgyzstan.

"Actually, the Kyrgyz economy has been privatized to [Akaev's] family," Aleksei Malashenko, a Central Asia expert at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said. "They'll talk about what property would be returned, to whom it would be returned, and where it would stay. After solving the first dilemma, Akaev will simply bargain over his economic situation, about his fate and so on."

Under the 2003 law, former presidents of Kyrgyzstan would be provided with immunity from prosecution and 80 percent of their presidential salaries. Other benefits would include security, a personal office, and a free residence. Those privileges also extend to a former president's family.


Copyright © 2005 East West Services, Inc.

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