Kazakh Border Guard Chief Detained On Corruption Charges

October 27, 2014

The head of Kazakhstan’s Border Guard Service, Nurlan Zholamanov, has been detained on suspicion of abuse of power.

The Central Asian country's National Security Committee says Zholamanov was detained on October 27.

No details were made public.

Several former Kazakh officials have faced prosecution on suspicion of graft in the last two years.

Some of them have been sentenced to long prison terms.

On October 16, a former deputy agriculture minister, Muslim Omiraev, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting a $100,000 bribe.

In July, the chief of Kazakhstan's state agency on the regulation of monopolies, Murat Ospanov, was arrested on suspicion of accepting a $200,000 bribe.

Kazakhstan borders Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

Based on reporting by Kazinform and KazTAG