On 13 September Turkmenistan’s Prosecutor General Batyr Atdayev briefed President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov on the results of inspections carried out in various agencies.
The state information agency TDH reports that among corrupt officials were those who work in the mosque and coerced bribes from pilgrims, who performed Hajj to Saudi Arabia. More on the topic of bribery among pilgrims is available in the article by “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” “Hajj for a bribe”.
Rovshen Allaberdiev, lead specialist of the Office of Mufti, Mukhammetmyrat Gurbangeldiev, lead specialist of HR department of the Office of Mufti and Gurbanberdi Nursakhedov, lead specialist of the religious organizations department under the Cabinet of Minister abused power.
In this connection the President charged the Office of the Mufti and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out relevant work with religious leaders and organize a trip for 380 rather than 160 pilgrims to perform Hajj, and organize flights for other Muslims.
Then the case of entrepreneur Chary Kulov, who performed the responsibilities of the head of for-profit organizations department, who set up a сriminal network, was presented. He conspired with B.
Aydogdyev, head of the stock trading department of the State Commodity Exchange and Yazmyrat Mukhammetmyradov, CEO of Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries to carry out a large-scale embezzlement of state-owned property.
Kulov was also engaged in selling construction materials, owned Ashgabat-based cafes “Suw peri” without the relevant permit by the Ministry of Trade, did not pay taxes and also “intended to illegally export a large amount of cash in foreign currency”.
In May 2019 in the name of his brother he bought a three-story shopping centre “Dostluk”, owned by the state enterprise “Altyn zamana” of the State Commodity Exchange on the condition of fully settling payments within three years, changed the internal structure, supporting structures causing great damage to the state.
Mukhammetmyradov, CEO of Tгrkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries, conspired with head of the textile industry department of the Cabinet of Ministers M. Begelov to get a bribe for helping overseas companied to buy aviation fuel.
Aydogdyev, head of the stock trading department of Turkmenistan State Commodity Exchange took bribes during trading operations for rendering assistance in purchasing oil and gas products.
Former Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations Amandurdy Ishanov abused power to help his relatives and friends get various high-ranking positions in the Ministry, rendered assistance in purchasing luxury apartments, designed for the Commodity Exchange Employees at the expense of long-term loans.
Moreover, during his tenure as the Chairperson of the Commodity Exchange, upon the request of Chary Kulov, he rendered assistance during the bidding process to some companies registered overseas in purchasing oil products at reduced prices.
He also “facilitated the process of renting out the restaurant “Bäş ýyldyz” owned by the state-run enterprise “Milli söwda merkezi” to Kulov”.
The Prosecutor General informed that all the aforementioned individuals was been convicted and their property was arrested. In connection with the illegal sale of oil products, manufactured by Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries and the State holding “Turkmenkhimia” at low prices, the accounts where overseas companies had transferred funds, were blocked.
Let us recall that the CEO of Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries Yazmyrat Mukhammetmyradov was dismissed by the President on 2 September “for serious job-related shortcomings”.
On 4 September Minister Amandurdy Ishanov was relieved of his post with the similar wording.