Original of this material
© “Kloop”07/04/2023, Photo: “Kloop”
To show how cheap it is, let us recall: the uniform electricity tariff for mining in Kyrgyzstan is 5.04 soms. This is ten times more than the “planned production cost” at which MBT Stroy will receive electricity – although exceptions can be made for individual companies the law prohibits. At the same time, the unlimited electricity tariff for the population of Kyrgyzstan has been 3.28 soms since May. That is, even the population of the country pays more than six times more for its excess kilowatt than an unknown and, in all likelihood, mining company.
At the same time, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers allows the MBT Stroy company to consume state megawatts even after its investments in infrastructure pay off – however, on a general basis. Although it is impossible to use government electricity for mining on any grounds.
In Kyrgyzstan, she owns two companies: A GROUP BSHK and A GROUP Vostok. Like MBT Stroy, both companies are registered in Bishkek at the addresses Murmanskaya 56 and 56A. The Kyrgyztemir production base is also located there. Her fifteen years ago captured by raiders from Maxim Bakiev’s entourage, and the base still belongs to them.
It would seem like a simple coincidence. Well, where is the fifth metal trader in Russia with an annual turnover of almost 70 billion rubles – and where are Bakiyev’s accomplices?
However, there is a second coincidence. In July 2022 Zaitsev by decree President Sadyr Japarov received Kyrgyz citizenship. By the same decree, Evgenia Sudets and her husband received citizenship Vladimir Androsik. Evgenia Sudets is the former head of the State Development Bank of Kyrgyzstan, opened in 2022.
In March 2023, the Politklinika publication published an investigation that Sudets’ husband Vladimir Androsik was associated with the raider takeover by Maxim Bakiev mobile operator “Megacom” during his father’s reign. After the Bakiyevs fled the country, the Provisional Government of Kyrgyzstan nationalized Megacom. At the beginning of 2023, it became known that Megacom should come under the control of the State Development Bank, which was headed by Sudets. After the publication of the Politklinik investigation, she resigned as head of the bank.
The third coincidence: the company “IT Capital” of Vladimir Androsik is also located on Murmanskaya, 56A – where the “Kyrgyztemir” seized by the Bakiyevites is located and where three companies of the Russian metal trader Zaitsev are registered.
The fourth coincidence: Androsik’s company bought a 2.9% stake in the Eurasian Savings Bank, 76.5% of whose securities are owned by the Ministry of Digital Development. Previously, this bank was called “Kyrgyz Credit Bank”, and Maxim Bakiev owned it through intermediaries. And the bank’s securities were managed by the company of the current Minister of Digital Development, Talantbek Imanov. Imanov was the driver of Alexei Shirshov, a friend and accomplice of Maxim Bakiev with interests in the energy sector.
Alexey Shirshov, the ex-finirector of the state-owned Electric Stations company and the author of corruption schemes in the energy sector, was one of those through whom Maxim Bakiev tried to privatize state-owned energy companies. On Shirshova turned on several criminal cases related to fraud and waste in the energy sector.
One of these cases was the Narynhydroenergostroy case. Maxim Bakiev at one time privatized it through companies associated with him. But in 2010, the Provisional Government of Kyrgyzstan nationalized 90% of the shares of Narynhydroenergostroy. And now this state company, by order of Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov, must transfer the Kambar-Aty-2 substation to Electric Stations for the needs of MBT Stroy.
After the overthrow of Bakiyev’s power, the Prosecutor General’s Office ringleader five criminal cases of misappropriation of state property and embezzlement during the construction of the Kambar-Ata-2 hydroelectric station. One gets the impression that the President and Prime Minister Japarov intend to return to the Bakiyev clan not only the seized Kyrgyztemir and Megakom, but also part of the state energy assets.
Unanswered Questions
Kambar-Ata-2 is a category A strategic facility, a sensitive facility where private companies are prohibited from entering. “Electric stations” claimthat to such objects “there is no possibility of secretly unauthorized connection of outside consumers, including mining farms; according to the regulatory and technical documentation, the connection of outside consumers to the power plant’s own needs is prohibited.”
Alexey Zaitsev confirmed to Kloop that his company will invest in the modernization of Kambar-Aty-2. According to him, MBT Stroy is not a mining company, but when asked directly whether it would engage in mining, the owner of the company refused to answer. Zaitsev also did not answer what MBT Stroy will do with the 30 megawatts received. But he admitted that his company would resell electricity at a profit.
“This all needs to be done first. Then we can discuss what we will do next. We are currently doing reconstruction. What we will do next, sell it or something else, seems to be a matter of further discussion,” said the owner of “A Group”. — “MBT Stroy” enters into a contract for reconstruction. Now we will make a reconstruction plan there. Invest money there. A further solution is under development. The equipment is expensive, it takes a long time to build, so first you need to get all the design decisions, understand how much electricity there will be, and then it will be clear what to do with it. We need to do the project first. We are still at the stage of concluding an agreement with the design organization.”
Zaitsev refused to answer questions from Kloop about the size of investments, the price of electricity, and the registration address of his company at Murmanskaya, 56A.
Why a metal trading giant with a turnover of nearly a billion dollars would participate in such a dubious scheme is still unclear. And how you can even enter into an agreement without knowing what you will do with the product received is also unclear. They don’t do this in business, and especially not in a large business with a 30-year history.
For Kyrgyzstan, this story is not at all small. The country’s electricity shortage is 3 billion kWh. The government makes up for it with purchases from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia. Kyrgyzstan buys electricity from them for an average of 2.6 soms, paying the difference when selling it to the population from the country’s budget. And with all this, the state undertakes to sell electricity from Kambar-Ata-2 to a private company at about five times cheaper. It is possible that in the future, Akylbek Japarov’s resolution will result in new power outages for the population.