BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliev has been detained on an extortion charge as part of a series of corruption cases at the ministry, the Central Asian Prosecutor-General's Office said on June 3.
According to the Prosecutor-General's Office, Beishenaliev's deputy, Uluk-Bek Bekturganov, who was also detained on June 2, filed a lawsuit against his boss accusing him of attempting to extort a bribe of 1 million soms ($12,600) and allegedly threatening to fire him if he did not pay the money.
A day earlier, the Prosecutor-General's Office said seven probes had been launched against the minister and his subordinates for alleged bribe-taking and abuse of office.
Security officers also detained two other top officials at the Health Ministry, Gulbara Ishenapysova, and Sultan Satarbekov, on charges of misusing state funds when buying vaccines against COVID-19 last year.
Beishenaliev became the health minister after a new government was established following mass anti-government protests in October 2020 sparked by parliamentary elections that many in the Central Asian nation said were rigged.
Beishenaliev was at the center of a scandal last year after he promoted a toxic substance, a solution with extracts of aconite root, as a treatment for COVID-19. Several persons were hospitalized after using the solution.
Aconite roots contain aconitine, a cardiotoxin, and neurotoxin. Consuming aconite root can lead to sickness or even death.