BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan’s former prime minister was sentenced to 15 years of prison on corruption charges Friday in a trial that roiled the national elite and fuelled suspicion over China’s economic clout.
The power plant servicing capital Bishkek, where nearly a million people live, overloaded and broke down during the winter of 2018, after the project had been completed. Atambayev, 63, is himself currently jailed on corruption charges and is a suspect in more than a dozen other crimes, some relating to a violent standoff between his supporters and law enforcement that left one officer dead in August.
Prosecutors said that Chinese contractor Tebian Electric Apparatus secured the US$400 million deal to modernise the ageing facility thanks to Isakov’s lobbying and in spite of a rival bid being cheaper.