14-04-2010, 04:49 AM
Cash Rules Everything Around Manas Transit Center
![[Image: kyrgyz-prez.jpg]](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2010/04/kyrgyz-prez.jpg)
It ain’t easy being the son of a Central Asian autocrat. One day, you’re on top of the world: You’ve got a lucrative contract to supply fuel to the U.S. base. The next, your papa is out of power, and you’re stuck in Latvia.
Such appears to be the story of Maxim Bakiyev, the son of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the recently ousted president of Kyrgyzstan. The younger Bakiyev (second from right in the family portrait here) was the head of the country’s Central Agency for Development, Investments and Innovations, which was charged with handling millions in foreign aid and overseeing the privatization of state enterprises. And if that doesn’t sound like a lucrative important enough job, he was also said to be the sole supplier of fuel to the Transit Center at Manas, a key U.S. base that supports operations in Afghanistan.
Selling fuel to the U.S. military is probably the biggest game in town, economically speaking, and the subject of fuel concessions has a long and controversial history in the Central Asian republic. Back in 2005, the New York Times documented how two firms, Manas International Services and Aalam Services, were paid tens of millions of dollars to supply jet fuel to the U.S. military. One of those companies, it turns out, was part-owned by Aydar Akayev, the son of former president Askar Akayev. (Akayev’s son-in-law had a stake in the other company.) Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who replaced Akayev after the Tulip Revolution, made a big fuss about Washington making retroactive payments to help recover the fuel contract money that supposedly was siphoned off by Akayev’s family.
Now it’s the turn for members of Kyrgyzstan’s new government to complain that the Bakiyev family was pocketing all the cash from the Manas fuel concession. But as David Stern of GlobalPost judiciously notes, “no hard evidence has been provided” that the U.S. military was buying jet fuel from Bakiyev Junior.
Complicated enough? Well, whether or not cash rules everything around Maxim, lots of popular anger was directed at the man during last week’s popular revolt. The Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda has published photos from what it claims is Maxim Bakiyev’s house, which was apparently looted and burned by angry demonstrators. Among some of the tacky souvenirs found in the ruins: Solid gold playing cards.
And where is Maxim Bakiyev? Well, as luck would have it, he was on his way to the United States when his father fled the capital. In a curious twist, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the younger Bakiyev was on his way to Washington for bilateral consultations when the violence in Kyrgyzstan broke out. Russian media now report that the president’s son is now in Latvia. So whether or not he’s the man to talk to, the Pentagon is probably going to have to find a new company to keep the fuel flowing.
[PHOTO: KP.ru]
Tags: Afghanistan 3.0, Cash Rules Everything Around Me, Crazy Ivans, Politricks
Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04/...z0l2iuU6AO
- By Nathan Hodge
![[Image: envelope.gif]](http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/wp-content/themes/wired/images/envelope.gif)
- April 13, 2010 |
- 5:46 pm |
- Categories: Af/Pak
It ain’t easy being the son of a Central Asian autocrat. One day, you’re on top of the world: You’ve got a lucrative contract to supply fuel to the U.S. base. The next, your papa is out of power, and you’re stuck in Latvia.Such appears to be the story of Maxim Bakiyev, the son of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the recently ousted president of Kyrgyzstan. The younger Bakiyev (second from right in the family portrait here) was the head of the country’s Central Agency for Development, Investments and Innovations, which was charged with handling millions in foreign aid and overseeing the privatization of state enterprises. And if that doesn’t sound like a lucrative important enough job, he was also said to be the sole supplier of fuel to the Transit Center at Manas, a key U.S. base that supports operations in Afghanistan.
Selling fuel to the U.S. military is probably the biggest game in town, economically speaking, and the subject of fuel concessions has a long and controversial history in the Central Asian republic. Back in 2005, the New York Times documented how two firms, Manas International Services and Aalam Services, were paid tens of millions of dollars to supply jet fuel to the U.S. military. One of those companies, it turns out, was part-owned by Aydar Akayev, the son of former president Askar Akayev. (Akayev’s son-in-law had a stake in the other company.) Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who replaced Akayev after the Tulip Revolution, made a big fuss about Washington making retroactive payments to help recover the fuel contract money that supposedly was siphoned off by Akayev’s family.
Now it’s the turn for members of Kyrgyzstan’s new government to complain that the Bakiyev family was pocketing all the cash from the Manas fuel concession. But as David Stern of GlobalPost judiciously notes, “no hard evidence has been provided” that the U.S. military was buying jet fuel from Bakiyev Junior.
Complicated enough? Well, whether or not cash rules everything around Maxim, lots of popular anger was directed at the man during last week’s popular revolt. The Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda has published photos from what it claims is Maxim Bakiyev’s house, which was apparently looted and burned by angry demonstrators. Among some of the tacky souvenirs found in the ruins: Solid gold playing cards.
And where is Maxim Bakiyev? Well, as luck would have it, he was on his way to the United States when his father fled the capital. In a curious twist, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the younger Bakiyev was on his way to Washington for bilateral consultations when the violence in Kyrgyzstan broke out. Russian media now report that the president’s son is now in Latvia. So whether or not he’s the man to talk to, the Pentagon is probably going to have to find a new company to keep the fuel flowing.
[PHOTO: KP.ru]
Tags: Afghanistan 3.0, Cash Rules Everything Around Me, Crazy Ivans, Politricks
Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04/...z0l2iuU6AO
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