Over two years, 45 tons of gold and 8 tons of silver have been produced at Kumtor, which are stored in the National Bank, the Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Japarov has said.
According to him, in 2021, when the president announced transfer of Kumtor to the state, some educated members said that this would not happen. They predicted a loss in an international court with billions of dollar obligations.
“They blamed us for an illiterate approach and predicted a shameful outcome. The company was transferred to us without disgrace. Since then, Kumtor’s gold has replenished our reserves. Recently I showed it to the MPs. I have been in politics since the 1990s, and I can say that before that there was no such a fruitful change in our political arena,” Akylbek Japarov said.
He also commented on claims of 19 tons of gold allegedly stolen. The head of the Cabinet said that “such an irresponsible statement was made by Adakhan Madumarov”. The president then suggested creating a deputy commission headed by Madumarov and sending it to inspect the enterprise so that they would tell the public about everything based on the results of the inspection. The commission was created, but Madumarov refused to head it, after which it was entrusted to Iskhak Masaliev.
“Later, he also refused to head the commission, and Arslanbek Maaliev was appointed. After checking everything personally, they were convinced that there was no way to steal even a gram of gold. These are the politicians who do not think about responsibility. To please the people, they can make false statements, forgetting about the evidence for their words. If they are sued, they will be held accountable for what they say. But this will become the basis for new statements about political persecution for them. This, unfortunately, has already become commonplace. It’s time for politicians to understand that they need to stop doing this,” said Akylbek Japarov. (24.kg/Ukrainian metal)