Maxim Bakiyev

Maksim Kurmanbekovich Bakiyev (Russian: Максим Курманбекович Бакиев; born 27 October 1977, Samara, RSFSR), is the youngest son of former president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, from his marriage to Russian-born Tatyana Petrova. He has applied for asylum in the UK, while the Kyrgyz government is requesting him extradited.

Biography

Early life

Maksim Bakiyev has a legal background, having graduated from the joint Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University. As a student, Maksim worked in a consulting firm, specialized in investment into emerging markets in Central Asia and the Middle East. In March 2010 Maksim was widely believed to be the richest man in Kyrgyzstan.^[1]

Career

Maksim was appointed the head of Central Agency for Development in October 2009. Since the 2010 overthrow he has been charged with embezzlement and abuse of power by the interim government of Kyrgyzstan. It is suspected that he transferred about $35 million of a $300 million loan from Russia into his private bank accounts.^[2] Prosecutors also allege that his companies owed almost $80 million in taxes on aviation fuel sales.^[3]

During 2010 uprising in Kyrgyzstan, Maxim Bakiyev was headed to the US for a series of meetings in Washington.^[4] However, he never showed up. In May Interpol posted Maxim Bakiyev as wanted on its website.

Arrest and asylum

On June 13, 2010, Maksim was arrested in the UK when he landed at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire in a privately hired jet.^[5] He is seeking asylum there, but the interim Kyrgyz government is demanding his extradition. A senior Kyrgyz official warned that the interim government would consider shutting down the U.S. Manas airbase if Britain refuses to hand him over.^[6] However, this was later denounced by president of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva.

On June 18, 2010, it was reported that Bakiyev was granted temporary asylum in the UK, but this was later refuted by the UK Border Agency.^[7] He does, however, have permission to stay pending consideration of request for asylum.

On October 12, 2012, Bakiyev was arrested in London by UK extradition officers on the request of U.S. authorities, who want to question him for alleged involvement in fraud. In a statement, the Kyrgyz presidency declared: “Because of the absence of an extradition agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and Great Britain, the British side is now considering the issue of extraditing Maxim Bakiyev to the United States.”^[8]

On March 27, 2013, a Kyrgyz court sentenced Bakiyev in absentia to 25 years in prison for corruption.^[9]

2010 South Kyrgyzstan unrest

In May 2010, an audio recording^[10] was posted anonymously on YouTube with a caption identifying the voices as those of Maxim and his uncle Janish Bakiyev. The men were discussing plans to arm groups to spread chaos across the south of Kyrgyzstan, sometime in June. Both men have denied the authenticity of the tape and Bakiyev has repeatedly said he has no involvement in the violence.^[11]

Kyrgyz deputy Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev, claims that the 2010 inter-ethnic riots in south Kyrgyzstan were paid for with $10 million from Bakiyev's pocket.^[12]

References