Kyrgyz Press: Gourevitch Arrested

Unconfirmed Kyrgyz press reports say Eugene Gourevitch, whose financial scandals may have helped bring down the Bakiyev regime, has been arrested.

AKIpress, citing Bishkek's Delo No newspaper, reports Gourevitch was arrested late last week in Almaty.

http://svodka.akipress.org/news:45041

A Kyrgyz government official could not confirm the arrest, but interim government Chief of Staff Edil Baisalov told me this morning that, "We knew he was here in Bishkek until very recently. Obviously he is wanted by Italian authorities, but he is also wanted by us and he is a US citizen, so it is a very complicated situation."

Gourevitch is wanted in Italy for conspiring to defraud a telecoms company of $2.7 billion. He is close to Maxim Bakiyev, the former president's son. The two are accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the state Development Fund.