Kusturizatsiya: One word that explains Kyrgyzstan’s fight against economic crimes

A controversial and yet seemingly effective means of fighting corruption

Originally published on Global Voices

The arrival of Kyrgyzstan’s current president Sadyr Japarov to power in October 2020 gave birth to a new term called “kusturizatsiya,” denoting the country’s new approach to fighting economic crimes. The term is a combination of the Kyrgyz word “kusturuu” (to induce vomit) and the Russian suffix “-zatsiya,” which is used at the end of words to describe a process. The authorities’ description of kusturizatsiya refers to citizens who committed economic crimes providing “voluntary donations” to the government as money and/or property as reparations for damages caused by their crimes. In return for their donations, suspects of economic crimes get a chance to walk away free.

Initially, only major politicians and state officials were subjected to kusturizatsiya. The most notorious person to have returned stolen assets is the former deputy head of the State Customs Service Raimbek Matraimov, commonly known as Raim Million, due to the riches he accumulated through corruption mechanisms. Matraimov was arrested on three occasions with accusations of corruption and money laundering. As a result, he returned over KGS 2 billion (almost USD 23 million) in cash and property.

Here is a YouTube video about Matraimov's arrest and returning KGS 2 billion to the state.

Over the last four years, kusturizatsiya has expanded to large and medium businesses, reflecting the state’s growing appetite for stolen assets. In 2022, a co-owner of a large dairy company Umut&Co returned KGS 800 million (USD 9.2 million), the origin of which he could not explain to the authorities. In 2024, Kyrgyzstan’s most famous pastry company Kulikovskiy paid KGS 20 million (USD 230 thousand) in fines for its past violations of required practices for the disposal of expired products.

Japarov’s close ally and head of the State Committee of National Security (UKMK) Kamchybek Tashiyev is the main figure behind kusturizatsiya, responsible for its implementation in the last four years. Both Tashiyev and Japarov came to power as the result of Kyrgyzstan’s third political revolution in October 2020, which took place following rigged parliamentary elections. Since then the country has taken a new political road, switching from parliamentarism to a presidential form of rule and adopting increasingly authoritarian and populist policies. Kusturizatsiya is perhaps the most well-known such policy closely associated with the rule of Japarov and Tashiyev. It is also the one that continues to be aggressively pursued by the authorities.

On December 17, Tashiyev announced that from October 2020 to December 2024 kusturizatsiya has brought KGS 168.3 billion or USD 1.9 billion. He revealed that the government has received KGS 37.8 billion (USD 437.7 million) in cash and KGS 130.5 (USD 1.5 billion) in property. According to Tashiyev, UKMK is planning to collect additional KGS 40.9 billion (USD 470 million) by the end of 2024. He shared where the returned money and property has gone to bring transparency and accountability to kusturizatsiya, which thus far has been a topic of controversy and criticism.

Here is a YouTube video with Tashiyev's press conference on the interim results of kusturizatsiya.

The first part of the criticism of kusturizatsiya is that it creates a sense of impunity, since those who committed crimes can buy themselves out of serving a prison sentence if they have enough money. There is also no legal ground for its exercise. The second part is that the practice is not transparent and accountable, since UKMK seems to unilaterally decide how much damage has been done to the state and how much suspects have to return — without an open due process and involvement of courts. There are also calls to show the public how the returned funds are being spent, and Tashiyev’s press conference on December 17 was a step towards that.

There are no signs that kusturizatsiya will stop any time soon. Previously, Tashiyev has promised that those suspected of economic crimes will both return stolen funds and serve custodial prison sentences but that day has not come yet.

Written by Nurbek Bekmurzaev