A Kyrgyz customs officer and embezzler who fled to Baku was accused of ordering the murder of “top officials” of Kyrgyzstan

The State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan said that the wanted former customs officer Raiymbek Matraimov involved in the planned assassination attempt on the top officials of the republic. About it reports 24.kg with reference to a press release from the intelligence service.

According to the State Committee for National Security, Matraimov is currently in Baku. A letter has already been sent to the Azerbaijani authorities about the need to detain the ex-deputy head of the Customs Committee, after which the countries will discuss the issue of his extradition to his homeland.

Matraimov’s involvement in the assassination attempt on the leaders of Kyrgyzstan became known after on March 22, State Committee for National Security officers detained five Azerbaijani citizens who were members of a transnational organized crime group. It was these people, according to investigators, who were preparing an attack on the top officials of the state. The intelligence service did not specify which politician the attack was planned on.

The State Committee for National Security published the names of the detainees: Aliev V.M., Baghirov S.A., Asgarov M.O., Bekhbudrov M.S. and Mammadov Z.I. Kyrgyz security officials provided details of the biography of one of the members of the organized crime group. According to them, Asgarov has the status of a so-called “tramp” in the criminal world, who, in order to spread thieves’ ideas, as well as to increase his authority, arrived with accomplices in the Central Asian republic. The foreigners also intended to commit an assassination attempt on the country’s leadership due to Bishkek’s policy of active struggle against crime, which caused discontent among the leaders of criminal groups throughout the post-Soviet space.

At the moment, the detained Azerbaijanis are in custody. An investigation is underway to bring them to justice under the laws of Kyrgyzstan.

At the end of January of this year, it became known that Matraimov was put on the wanted list. The authorities clarified that the ex-official is suspected of committing crimes under Article 169 (“Assisting in restricting the freedom of movement of a person by forcibly detaining him in the absence of signs of official crime”) of the Criminal Code of the Republic. Presumably, last fall the former customs officer could have gone to Turkey, and from there to Dubai (UAE). Information spread in the media that Matraimov took approximately $700 million out of the country.

Commenting on this information, the Chairman of the State Committee for National Security Kamchybek Tashiev called the fugitive “a classic example of corruption.”

Later, employees of the State Committee for National Security reported on transfer to state ownership a number of real estate properties owned by the former deputy head of the Customs Service. According to the department, the total value of Matraimov’s property is $34.8 million, or about 4 billion soms.

Raiymbek Matraimov worked in the Customs Service from 2015 to 2017. In 2020, he became a defendant in a criminal case. On February 11, 2021, he was convicted under the article “Corruption”. Thanks to the fact that the official made a deal with the investigation and paid 2 billion soms ($24 million) to the state, he managed to avoid imprisonment (although the sanction of this article in Kyrgyzstan only provides for imprisonment).

Later, the State Committee for National Security opened a case against him for laundering criminal proceeds, the reason for which was materials from investigative journalists. They, in particular, said that Matraimov had expensive property in Dubai, but the intelligence service was unable to confirm this information. […]

Original of this material

© “Radio Azattyk”Kyrgyzstan, 02/08/2024

[…] After a new deputy appeared in the Jogorku Kenesh instead of Abdyvakhab Boronbaev, who had previously voluntarily surrendered his mandate (before his parliamentary career, he worked as the head of the southwestern customs – editor’s note), the question of parliamentarians possibly related to Raiymbek Matraimov was raised, and names were named four or five people’s representatives.

So, on February 15, the Region TV channel, which tie up with the head of the State Committee for National Security Kamchybek Tashiev, released several materials saying that deputies Iskender Matraimov, Nadira Narmatova, Aibek Osmonov, Shailoobek Atazov and Nurlan Razhabaliev should surrender their mandates. And the experts who spoke there argued that those who are part of the close circle of a person who is associated with the mafia and is wanted should not sit in parliament.

“Yesterday I saw those who performed. One called me “Raiymbek’s older brother,” and the other called me “younger.” By law, upon reaching the age of 18, parents are not responsible for their child. The brother is also not responsible for the younger brother. He is responsible for his own work. I will answer for myself,” Iskender Matraimov said in an interview with Azattyk. Let us remind you that he was elected from the Kara-Suu single-mandate constituency and is the deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on law and order, the fight against crime and anti-corruption

And deputy Nadira Narmatova was elected to the Jogorku Kenesh on the list of the Ata-Jurt Kyrgyzstan party. She is the author of amendments to the Law “On Non-Profit Organizations”, known as the bill “on foreign representatives”.

In one of her interviews, she described Raiymbek Matraimov as a wonderful person and stated that because of slander against him, trading in the Madina, Dordoi and Kara-Suu markets stopped. In the 2020 parliamentary elections, she ran with the Mekenim Kyrgyzstan party founded by Raiymbek Matraimov […]

And if Narmatova praised Matraimov in her interviews, then her colleague Shailobek Atazov participated in rallies in his support and in every possible way defended the interests of the former customs chief in the Jogorku Kenesh, and before coming to parliament he led the EREM sports club, which belonged to the Matraimovs. In 2021, Shailoobek Atazov lost the elections in the single-mandate constituency Toloikon, and then entered parliament, being elected in the Sverdlovsk district of Bishkek.

After Kamchybek Tashiev called Raiymbek Matraimov’s connections with crime boss Kamchybek Kolbaev “mafia,” several people considered supporters of Shailoobek Atazov were summoned to law enforcement agencies. Later, two of them were found guilty in the case of vote bribery and fined 100 thousand soms each. In November 2023, the deputy himself was interrogated by the State Committee for National Security. […]

Another deputy whose name is heard in connection with the demands for a mandate is Nurlan Razhabaliev, who won the elections in the Batken single-mandate constituency in November 2021. By the way, around the beginning of that year he was convicted under the article “Corruption”.

The investigation materials indicated that Raiymbek Matraimov, together with Nurlan Razhabaliev and the previously mentioned Abdybahab Boronbaev, organized a corruption scheme, collecting money from trucks that passed through Kyrgyzstan to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

As a result, Nurlan Razhabaliev paid the budget for the damage caused in the amount of 12 million soms, and later a fine of 260 thousand soms. And Abdybahab Boronbaev paid 8 million soms.

Nurlan Razhabaliev refused to comment on the events related to Raiymbek Matraimov and the version that he is connected with him.

And deputy Aibek Osmonov accompanied Raiymbek Matraimov at the opening ceremony of the muftiate building in August 2023 and sat next to him. In addition to Aibek Osmonov, deputies Marlen Mamataliev, Alisher Kozuev, Taalaibek Masabirov, Shailobek Atazov and Nurlan Razhabaliev could be seen at this event next to the former deputy head of customs.

Aibek Osmonov’s connections with the Matraimovs have been talked about for a long time. At one time, the name of this deputy was called as the founder of the Mekenim Kyrgyzstan party. Later, as you know, this party passed to Raiymbek Matraimov. Attempts to contact Aibek Osmonov were unsuccessful.