BISHKEK -- A close associate of the son of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev has been arrested in Bishkek on corruption charges.
The State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on May 10 that Aleksei Shirshov was arrested on suspicion of the illegal privatization of dozens of state-owned apartments and houses in the northern Issyk-Kul region.
According to the UKMK, regional judges and judges in the Supreme Court of the Central Asian state, as well as officials of the president's office, the State Property Fund, and the State Registration Service, also may have been involved in the illegal privatization of 56 apartments and 27 cottages.
Shirshov's pretrial restrictions will be decided by a court in the coming days.
Shirshov, a businessman who used to lead the Dastan company, which produces military products, was known as a financial consultant of Maksim Bakiev, the fugitive son of the former president.
Shirshov fled Kyrgyzstan in 2010 following the ouster of Bakiev by anti-government protests, in which almost 100 demonstrators were killed.
It remains unclear when and why he came back to Kyrgyzstan, while some media reports say Shirshov returned recently to again take over at Dastan, which among other things produces Soviet-era V-111 Shkval torpedoes.
Kurmanbek Bakiev and his relatives, including Maksim Bakiev, fled the country after the protests.
Both Kurmanbek and Maksim Bakiev have been sentenced to life in prison in absentia on a number of charges and are wanted in Bishkek.