The State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan (SCNS) has detained the former president of Ayu Holding Baktybek Omurakunov. The SCNS press center reported.
According to it, he was detained on suspicion of financing Kamchi Kolbaev’s organized crime group and ties to Salim Abduvaliev (criminal nickname Salim Boyvocha).
A preventive conversation took place with the detainee and an obligation was taken from him to renounce his ties to the organized crime group and the ideology of the criminal world.
Investigative and operational measures are being carried out to establish other facts of patronage and other types of interaction between the detainee and representatives of the country’s criminal structures.
Earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that a search was conducted at Ayu plant. The police found 260 tons of illegal alcohol, as well as 13,000 bottles of vodka with fake excise stamps. Employees of the Main Criminal Investigation Department received information that unknown persons organized illegal production of alcohol and alcoholic beverages at the production plant in Tokmak.
A criminal case has been initiated under the article «Illegal production of alcohol and alcohol-containing drinks» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. Urgent searches were carried out, including in the village of Sokuluk and Tokmak city.
In September 2023, by a ruling of the Pervomaisky District Court of the capital, the petition of the investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs against the owner of Ayu Holding, Sharshenbek Abdykerimov, accused of illegal production of alcohol, was satisfied. The businessman was arrested in absentia, and a preventive measure was chosen for him in the form of detention. The whereabouts of Sharshenbek Abdykerimov are still unknown.
The investigation against former deputy of the Parliament and businessman Sharshenbek Abdykerimov was separated into separate proceedings. The case was sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The state also got two vodka factories — Ayu and Tokmok Bulls CJSC, which belonged to the alcohol magnate.
The President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov in an interview with Kabar news agency said that Ayu distillery would be nationalized. According to him, the company allegedly hid taxes and was engaged in alcohol smuggling.
The owner of Ayu, Sharshenbek Abdykerimov, is one of the richest people in Kyrgyzstan. He created the holding that includes more than 50 companies.
The Pervomaisky District Court of the capital has completed the consideration of one of the criminal cases against the managers of Ayu LLC. The director of the company, Tynybek Isaev, and his subordinates were found guilty under several articles of the Criminal Code, but he was acquitted of the charge of money laundering.
Tynybek Isaev is a relative of Sharshenbek Abdykerimov. By the court’s verdict, he was acquitted under Articles 261 «Creation of an organized group or participation in it» and 222 «Money laundering» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic due to the absence of corpus delicti.
At the same time, the director of Ayu was found guilty under Article 238 «Counterfeiting excise stamps» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. He was sentenced to imprisonment for three years, but was released due to the amnesty.
