Kyrgyzstan energy official faces corruption charges
A senior Energy Ministry official in Kyrgyzstan has been placed under house arrest on corruption charges, a police spokesman said on Monday, RIA Novosti reported.
Aigul Sultankulova, director of the ministry's Fuel and Energy Complex (TEK) Regulation Department, is accused of abusing her position, forgery and fraud, the spokesman said.
On investigating, the country's security service found that the official had allegedly issued a license to a shell company KasEnergo, which bought energy at reduced rates and sold it to consumers at an artificially inflated price.
The total loss to the public purse caused by the fraudulent schemes has been estimated at some 1.7 million Kyrgyzstan som (KGS) or $36,000, local media reported.
In October, the wife of KasEnergo's head, Kamilya Amankulova, who heads the ministry's department for tariff and price regulation, was arrested. She has been charged with being an accomplice in a crime.