«They are trying to use my testimony at the trial on modernization of the Bishkek’s Heating and Power Plant against the former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sapar Isakov,» ex-official of the Central Agency for Development, Investment and Innovation Aleksey Eliseev said to 24.kg news agency.
Earlier, Sapar Isakov’s lawyer Zamir Jooshev told reporters that the testimonies of Aleksey Shirshov and Aleksey Eliseev would be read out at the trial in the case on modernization of the capital’s HPP. According to him, a petition was made by the state prosecution.
Aleksey Eliseev commented to 24.kg news agency when, and in connection with what he was questioned and what he told the investigator.
«In August 2018, I really gave testimony to the Bureau for the Prevention and Combating Corruption of Latvia (KNAB) at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Kyrgyzstan under the agreement on legal assistance between our countries. I have never refused procedural communication with the Kyrgyz authorities. I’ll say more: I myself demand to ask me any direct questions, and not to disseminate false information in the media without any official charges. Such requests are a good way to once again procedurally register the fact that there are no real legal charges against me, not to mention some fictitious absentee sentences. I have repeatedly clarified this publicly, and this is the subject of my complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee,» said Aleksey Eliseev.
Under Article 3 of the mentioned legal aid treaty, a person may be questioned not only as a witness, but also as an accused or defendant. However, a request was received from Kyrgyzstan to interrogate me solely as a witness.
Aleksey Eliseev
«Therefore, I have never been in the status of an accused or defendant. Due to the requirements of the law, an accused must be interrogated with showing a relevant decision of an investigator. A defendant must be called to court by a subpoena. Under Article 9 of the same interstate agreement, all these documents must be handed over to the person who is living in Latvia according to the same procedure as examination of a witness. That is, the legal assistance procedures between Latvia and Kyrgyzstan are known to Kyrgyzstan and applied to me. At the same time, no one brought charges against me and did not summon to the court. The Kyrgyz authorities have questions to me only as a witness. This is a factually recorded fact,» Aleksey Eliseev stressed.
According to him, the last nine are not the first and not the only official appeals to him from the competent institutions of Kyrgyzstan.
«This time, interest was shown in the period of my work at the Central Agency for Development, Investment and Innovation, including negotiations with China on energy projects. I answered all the questions and handed over the documents that I have,» said Aleksey Eliseev.
In particular, I said that as a part of my negotiations with the Chinese company TBEA, I had to deal with their corrupt proposals, which were rejected.
Aleksey Eliseev
He stresses that he immediately reported this to his management.
«I also then confirmed by documents that the cost of modernization of Bishkek’s HPP project had never been considered by us above $ 150 million. In addition, I drew attention of the Kyrgyz authorities that throughout the past period I have repeatedly formally proposed to send my information and documents constituting state secrets to the competent state institutions. But these proposals were ignored,» said Aleksey Eliseev.
Today, I see that they are trying to use my testimonies in court against Sapar Isakov and other defendants.
Aleksey Eliseev
«Therefore, I want to officially declare that according to his official powers and actual relations with the leadership, Sapar Isakov could not know anything about the Chinese corruption proposals indicated. He dealt exclusively with the protocol of international meetings and relations of the Central Agency for Development, Investment and Innovation, and not with the content of specific projects and agreements. Since I was not asked these questions on the request for legal assistance regarding him personally, I could not give such explanations at that time. But now I consider it my duty to pay attention to this and inform that if the court sends a request to Latvia for my additional explanations as a witness, taking into account the issues of defense of Sapar Isakov, then I am ready to present my official explanations about this,» concluded Aleksey Eliseev.
Aleksey Eliseev worked at the Central Agency for Development, Investment and Innovation of Kyrgyzstan. He was called the closest friend of the son of the ousted president of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev, Maxim. After the events in April 2010, he was forced to leave the country. He obtained political asylum in Latvia.
On August 25, 2010, the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office published a press release in the media stating that Aleksey Eliseev was a defendant in five criminal cases. Eliseev filed a lawsuit on the protection of honor and dignity and won — the Prosecutor General’s Office was not able to present evidence to the plaintiff’s defense representatives confirming the sent out data.
