Azim Roy – the criminal billionaire who bought himself a new life for 13 million and a friendship with Sadyr Japarov
An obvious question arose for everyone – what is a criminal businessman doing in the president’s bedroom? The president’s administration did not provide an answer to this question and completely ignored all journalists’ inquiries. Subsequently, two armored Chevrolet Suburban SUVs were spotted in Sadyr Japarov’s convoy, which, as it turned out, were gifted to the president by Azim Roy. However, Japarov’s press service stated that «the vehicles were provided as a grant by foreign partners». But they did not specify which partners.
Then suddenly the head of Kyrgyzstan’s GKNB (State Committee for National Security) Kamchybek Tashiyev stated that Azim Roy was declared wanted, and a criminal case was opened against him. At the same time, he tried to explain why a businessman with criminal ties, especially at a very high level, was not only allowed into Kyrgyzstan but was also given the opportunity to communicate with the president and his entourage. Allegedly, he had «repented and promised that he had realized his mistakes and would not commit them again».
This attempt looked rather pathetic not only because these words were spoken by the head of GKNB but also considering subsequent events. Because a few months later, the criminal case against Azim Roy was closed. Since he again «repented and realized». And from a «criminal investor», he turned back into a respected businessman. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
Who is Azim Roy, and why did all these transformations happen with him? The answer is quite simple and typical for the post-Soviet space: Azim Roy is a common high-profile criminal who amassed his capital by privatizing state property. Azim Roy was put on the wanted list in Kyrgyzstan in November 2023 as part of a criminal case initiated after the death of the criminal authority Kamchy Kolbayev. At that time, the GKNB called Roy the «godfather» of Kolbayev, stating that he was involved in financing organized crime group members and legalizing criminal proceeds. Notably, few paid attention to the fact that the criminal case was investigated not by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is its direct duty, but by the GKNB. The answer is simple – the committee takes over all the «fatty» cases, leaving younger colleagues the right to feed on what didn’t catch the GKNB’s attention.
So it was with Azim Roy. And the words of the GKNB head that he «promised to invest and did not» open the true reasons for Roy’s persecution and the reasons for closing the criminal case – the high contracting parties simply did not converge in dividing the money. Simply put, the president and his entourage wanted to have more, and Azim Roy naturally wanted to give them less. But he went too far somewhere, so the committee officials were set on him. And after that, he really «realized» – he agreed to the conditions of the presidential family, at the same time contributing 13 million dollars to the GKNB’s account, after which in May 2024, the criminal case against him was closed «for lack of any crime».
Although the reason for this «attack» on Azim Roy is clear, the details, unfortunately, are unknown. It is clear that the parties were sharing something. But what exactly – is unknown. As the details of the agreements are unknown, as a result of which the criminal case was closed. It is clear that it is about money and Azim Roy’s access to the assets and resources of Kyrgyzstan, but the details, unfortunately, we do not know.
Partially, the veil over what Azim Roy and Sadyr Japarov were dividing is lifted by the criminal case for which Azim Roy was declared wanted. Within the framework of the criminal case №03-825-2023-000137, charges were made of seizing six thousand square meters in the Arstan Tower business center in Bishkek, which is estimated at 10 million dollars; legalizing criminal proceeds through shell companies; illegal seizure of several land plots in Bishkek, where commercial objects were built.
From here, it can be understood that it is about large commercial real estate. But it is unlikely that the conflict was limited to these objects alone. Firstly, the head of the GKNB stated that Azim Roy promised to «build factories and create jobs for people». Secondly, recalling Azim Roy’s biography, it is known that in the early nineties, he was engaged in acquiring industrial facilities in the mining and aluminum industries in the Central Asian countries and Russia together with unnamed partners.
Azim Roy supposedly earned money for this by creating a cooperative for selling handicrafts in Kyrgyzstan in 1988. Allegedly, he had enough money to buy the Sokolov-Sorbodsky and Pavlodar aluminum plants in Kazakhstan within three years and then move to Russia, where Azim Roy was also purchasing mining enterprises.
It is worth mentioning here that until 1998, Azim Roy had a different name - Orozakhun Saidazimov. Under this name, he was sentenced in 1981 to seven years imprisonment for illegal storage of firearms, assault, speculation, and storage of drugs. He served his sentence in a Russian colony. Before that, he was detained in connection with the death of the then Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kyrgyz SSR Sultan Ibraimov, but his guilt was not proven. As noted, in 1995, his conviction was expunged, and in 1998 it was annulled. Then there was an attempt to move to the USA, where the history with convictions resurfaced, and Azim Roy returned to Russia, whose citizenship he received in the early nineties.
Somewhere at the end of the 2000s, Azim Roy reappeared in Kyrgyzstan, where he began to take an active part in the organized crime group of one of the most famous criminal authorities, Kamchy Kolbayev. The group’s interests included Kyrgyzstan’s commercial real estate, market, development, and trade. But, as mentioned earlier, something went wrong, and Kamchy Kolbayev was shot «for resisting» during detention. And his godfather and financier Azim Roy got off much easier and became a respected businessman and investor again.
Based on all of this, it seems that Roy’s role in Kolbayev’s group is deliberately downplayed – he’s supposedly only a «financier», and Kolbayev is the head. But it looks like Kamchy Kolbayev was the «force block». And Azim Roy is the brain. And then the question arises – what was Azim Roy’s role in the fact that Kamchy Kolbayev was shot during detention? And did Azim Roy pay thirteen million dollars only for the criminal case against him to be closed, or is this the price of something more?
Something clearly doesn’t add up in this story. Couldn’t the family of Kyrgyzstan’s president share several shopping centers and markets without shooting and killing? Or is it about Kamchy Kolbayev’s authority lagging behind the times and thinking too highly of himself, leading to such radical methods having to be employed? But what happened to his criminal empire? Nobody announced its defeat. And there are no results from the loud criminal case. Except that Azim Roy emerged from it as a clean and innocent person, becoming a «respected investor and businessman» once again.
Meanwhile, everyone somehow forgets that among Azim Roy’s interests and his yet-to-be-revealed Russian partners is the extraction of mineral resources. Kyrgyzstan is rich with them – there are industrial deposits of gold, mercury, antimony, tin, tungsten. There is potential for organizing the extraction of iron, titanium, vanadium, aluminum, copper, molybdenum, beryllium. The industrial significance of tantalum-niobates, cobalt, zirconium, lithium, and colored gemstones is not excluded. Was it not here that Azim Roy was planning to build factories and plants?
So the story of Azim Roy’s «investments» in Kyrgyzstan’s industry seems far from over. And everything we have heard about his «busting» with the president and his family is just the tip of the iceberg. It very much looks like we are in for an intriguing continuation of Azim Roy’s «investment» story.
Распечатать