Management of Bereket market complexes accused of fraud

The State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan (SCNS), within the framework of creating favorable conditions for business entities and reducing rent payments in Bereket Grand and Bereket Universal shopping complexes, revealed facts of fraud on a large scale against their sellers. The press center of the state committee reported.

It was found out that the heads of Bereket CJSC Bolotbek Begaliev and Indira Ablazova since 2017 forced tenants to conclude fictitious sale and purchase agreements for commercial areas worth from $500 to $2,000 per square meter without issuing title documents. Otherwise they threatened to terminate the contracts.

«Pursuing the goal of illegal enrichment at the expense of vendors, the CJSC administration forced entrepreneurs to pay shady kickbacks in the amount from $500 to $1,000 when concluding contracts, bypassing the cash desk. These funds were used by the administration for personal purposes,» the SCNS added.

After the fictitious sale of retail space, entrepreneurs were also charged rent payments in a particularly large amount. If they resold their places to other persons, the latter, at the initiative and coercion of Bereket CJSC under the contract paid 100,000 soms for re-registration of the place (Bereket Grand shopping center) and 50 percent of the profit (Bereket Universal shopping center) received from the sale of their retail space, which created difficult conditions for business. At the same time, the shopping centers did not create appropriate conditions for entrepreneurs.

A criminal case was initiated on the fact, in the framework of which today, January 19, the founder of Bereket CJSC Bolotbek Begaliev and the president of the CJSC Indira Ablazova were detained and taken to the temporary detention center of the SCNS.

«In turn, within the framework of the government’s policy to improve conditions for vendors, Bereket CJSC reduced the rent for 90 percent of tenants by only 10 percent, while inaccurate information about a 30 percent rent reduction was disseminated in the media,» the SCNS added.

Currently, investigative and operational measures are being carried out to identify all the persons involved in this case.