Plunder and Patronage in the Heart of Central Asia

“I’m Aierken Saimaiti,” the man said. “Between 2011 and 2016, I transferred more than $700 million out of Kyrgyzstan.”

Just a few months after this conversation with a journalist, Saimaiti was murdered.

But before his death, he gave reporters documents that revealed the massive and systemic plunder of public funds from one of the poorest countries on earth.

A joint team from RFE/RL's Radio Azattyk, OCCRP, and its Kyrgyz member center, Kloop, spent months poring over Saimaiti’s documents, following his leads, and reporting on the ground to corroborate as much as possible. Together, this evidence tells the story of how a vast underground cargo empire run by the Abdukadyrs, a secretive Uighur clan, systematically funneled massive bribes to Kyrgyzstan’s customs service. It also implicates Raimbek Matraimov, a former top customs official widely seen as so powerful that he is essentially untouchable.

Along the way, Kyrgyz journalists involved in the project received credible threats to their safety and found themselves under surveillance. This made publication a matter of not only public interest, but physical safety. Saimaiti’s murder increased this urgency. Reporters spent the 11 days after his death working around the clock to piece together, verify, and publish the story he had been trying to tell.

Saimaiti knew so much because he had been a crucial player in the functioning of the patronage and money laundering system he revealed. But he was determined to expose that system. This investigative project will stand as his final word, showing in unprecedented detail how a small clique enriched itself at the expense of Kyrgyzstan’s people.