Opposition Promises Corruption Revelations

NBCentralAsia analysts say that plan by two leading opposition figures to publish evidence of corruption in high places could prove damaging for the Kyrgyz government and a vote-winner for its opponents.



Azimbek Beknazarov, a former chief prosecutor of Kyrgyzstan, has announced that he will disclose his evidence to the media in the next few days. He also said he would be joined by Felix Kulov, who was prime minister until recently.



“Kulov will help bring these cases to light,” Beknazarov told NBCentralAsia. “He was head of the government for two years and he knows about corruption cases involving officials in senior positions.”



Kulov announced he was joining the opposition on February 14, after parliament had twice turned his name down for approval as prime minister.



Although Kulov and other opposition leaders have yet to publish any facts to corroborate their accusations, political observers say corruption is one of the most effective instruments the opposition has for pressuring the authorities.



“Accusing the authorities of corruption is always an effective way of bringing people over to the opposition. At the present time, when corruption levels are rising fast, this issue makes for a powerful catalyst for popular discontent,” said Tamerlan Ibraimov, director of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies.



Ibraimov noted that the corruption accusations leveled against former president Askar Akaev’s government was crucial in mobilising support for his eventual overthrow in March 2005.



Political scientist Aleksandr Knyazev believes it is more than possible that opposition leaders have some compromising material to reveal, since the underlying system that encourages corruption has not been reformed.



“If Beknazarov and Kulov make allegations about corruption in the country’s leadership, it could intensify the anger that is already prevalent among certain sections of the population,” he said.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)