Head of the Tourism Development Support Fund Elena Kalashnikova and its Vice President Alexander Valitov were detained in Bishkek. Press center of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan (SCNS) reported.
The security services reportedly revealed a «large-scale waste» of the allocated funds for the implementation of goals, their misuse, unreasonably high salaries of the fund’s management and the construction of facilities at an inflated cost.
«A criminal case has been initiated under the article «Corruption» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. Searches were carried out in the Fund, where financial documentation related to the investigation was seized. A preliminary analysis of the seized documents showed that in 2022 the Fund was allocated 1 billion soms from the country’s budget, of which more than 608 million soms were spent on a number of projects in the field of tourism development. Thus, under the project for construction of 21 Rest Points, contractors received 100 percent of the contract amount — more than 105 million soms. Not a single facility has been put into operation, there are no design estimates, acts of work performed and justification for financing is absent,» the SCNS said.
The cost of construction of individual Rest Points, according to preliminary data, has been almost doubled and amounts to more than 13 million soms.
Press center of the State Committee for National Security
Numerous agreements with foreign companies for preparation of conceptual ideas for the development of various tourist facilities deserve special attention, SCNS reports. The cost of each contract varies from €40,000 to €256,000, more than €715,000 have already been spent.
«These contracts do not provide for the development of any technical design specifications, design estimates, but are limited only to the preparation of draft designs. Fund employees were not able to present them to the investigators. The Fund issued loans on preferential terms to private companies on the basis of only applications, in the absence of any business plans, and uncertain prospects for these projects. The Fund spent more than 65 million soms on this. In addition, excessively high salaries were set for management, as well foreign consultants with no experience in the field of tourism were attracted. The Fund set a salary of more than $6,000 a month without any visible result of their work. To calculate the exact amount of damage caused to the state, an audit is being carried out and the necessary examinations are planned,» the SCNS informed.
During the investigation, the President of the Fund and its Vice President were detained. They were placed in the temporary detention center of the SCNS.
The President of the Tourism Development Support Fund is Elena Kalashnikova, and the Vice President is Alexander Valitov.
Office of the Tourism Development Support Fund and the house of the head of the organization were searched. The SCNS opened a criminal case on the fact of corruption in the implementation of the project for the construction of recreation centers for tourists.
