How this affects us..."Kazakhstan arrests ex-nuclear chief"

http://www.zeenews.com/news534370.html

Astana, May 25: Kazakhstan has arrested the former chief of its nuclear power agency on corruption charges, just days after he was dismissed from the post, the Central Asian state's KNB security service said on Monday.

"The ex-head of Kazatomprom is suspected of embezzling government funds and is currently under arrest," KNB spokesman Kenzhebulat Beknazarov said.
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The announcement came days after Dzhakishev was sacked and replaced by former Kazakh trade and industry minister Vladimir Shkolnik, seen as a member of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's inner circle.

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Kazakhstan, an ex-Soviet republic bordering Russia and China, holds almost 20 percent of the world's uranium reserves and aims to be the number one producer by 2010, overtaking Australia and Canada.
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Kazakhstan accuses ex-nuclear chief of illegal uranium sales
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Kazakhstan_accuses_ex-nuclear_chief_of_illegal_uranium_sales_999.html

Security officials in Kazakhstan said Wednesday that the recently imprisoned former chief of the country's nuclear power agency illegally sold uranium mining rights to overseas companies.
Former Kazatomprom boss Mukhtar Dzhakishev took part in crooked deals that squandered the Central Asian state's uranium resources and netted him tens of thousands of dollars, the KNB security service said.

The accusations by the KNB -- the Kazakh successor to the Soviet KGB -- came less than a week after Dzhakishev was replaced as head of the country's atomic-energy and uranium-mining monopoly and thrown behind bars.

"Preliminary results of the investigation show that Mukhtar Dzhakishev and other managers.... squandered state property in the form of Kazakhstan's largest uranium fields by handing them to a number of offshore companies," the KNB said in a statement.
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE54O12V20090525?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Kazakhstan arrests head of state uranium company
A string of senior figures including heads of the state railway company and state energy firm KazMunaiGas, have been jailed in what the government describes as a campaign against corruption.

Mukhtar Ablyazov, chairman of biggest bank BTA, nationalised this year, fled Kazakhstan altogether this year following a row with the Kazakh authorities.

Analysts say recent developments highlight tensions in the political circle around President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 68, who has run the country since 1989 but has no clear successor.

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I wonder if some joint ventures with Kazatomprom may be put on hold until it is all sorted out? Will that affect energy production in Canada? Cause a backlog of maining inventory and slow down those industries, putting people out of work?

because it COULD be one of those 'holy shit' stories in the making..

Nice to see a government holding it's officials accountable. I don't think he will receive temporary house-arrest. I hope they make public the list of illegal deals and who and/or what governments are involved.

20% of the world's supply and a corrupt official at the helm? NOT GOOD!!!

an interesting set of events. But I've been wrong before.

I thought the hanky-panky in the nuclear program in Pakistan was going to carry heavy duty consequences, but was flat out wrong there. He essentially walked away a free man.

I hope this is handled with all the seriousness it deserves, unlike Pakistan.

is all lies spread by Jews and asshole Uzbekis!!!

borat comparisons! There was even an article about them trying to undo that kind of image. They are not happy!

:kick: