Stonewalling looms as an issue in a US congressional investigation into Pentagon contracting practices at the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan. Congressional investigators appear to be receiving only a bare minimum of cooperation with various requests for documents.
Red Star Enterprises Ltd. and Mina Corp – the companies at the center of the investigation – have only partially met a May 3 deadline to submit documents requested by congressional investigators. The National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform opened its Manas investigation on April 12. [For background see EurasiaNet’s archive].
The investigation is seeking to establish if Red Star/Mina Corp were involved in corrupt transactions involving the supply of TS-1 jet fuel to Manas, which is a key logistics hub for the US and NATO war effort in Afghanistan. [For background see EurasiaNet’s archive].
Legal counsel from the high-brow, New York-headquartered law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges are representing Red Star/Mina Corp and have helped the entities secure an extension in supplying the congressional subcommittee all the requested documentation. Weil Gotshal is one of the largest-earning international law firms in the world.
Delays in securing Red Star/Mina Corp’s full compliance are not the only factor that has the investigation off to a slower-than-hoped-for start. Well-placed sources tell EurasiaNet.org that the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of State are experiencing a profound dilemma as to what documents to hand over to investigators and when.
While it would be highly unlikely, even “shocking” that congressional investigators would use their subpoena power at this time to compel the Pentagon and State Department to comply with document requests, both government agencies may offer only minimal compliance, a source with knowledge of the investigation told EurasiaNet.org.
Speaking at a news conference in Bishkek on May 4, Michael McFaul, senior director for Russian and Central Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, appeared to try to create room for maneuver in both the US congressional probe and a corresponding corruption investigation being carried out by Kyrgyzstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office. “I’ve read lots of stories about black holes and corruption and things that happen that I know not to be true. Therefore, the only way that we can convince the world and the people of Kyrgyzstan that they are not true is to be as transparent as possible,” he said.
A spokesperson for the State Department told EurasiaNet on May 5: “The US government takes allegations of fraud and corruption seriously and conducts investigations accordingly.” However, the State Department representative would not elaborate on whether or not American diplomats complied with congressional investigators’ May 3 deadline to supply requested documents. The State Department spokesperson then referred all additional inquiries to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
A Department of Defense representative, Lt. Col. Mark Wright, insisted that the Pentagon was cooperating with the House subcommittee. "Defense officials maintain regular contact with committee officials,” Wright said. “The Department of Defense provided an interim response to the committee and received an extension so that DoD could ensure that each of their questions received thorough and comprehensive responses.”
Investigators have also sought information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, specifically a report that detailed Red Star’s relationship with the former president of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, along with his family members. The subcommittee instructed the FBI to meet the request by April 16, but it is believed that the agency has so far not handed over the report, which was commissioned in 2005, the year Akayev was ousted from power.
The congressional subcommittee letter to Red Star, “its parents, subsidiaries and all affiliated entities,” asked for “information sufficient” to establish Red Star’s corporate structure and executive leadership. Investigators also requested documents related to DoD contracts and subcontractors used by Red Star; Red Star’s relationship to Mina Corp; documents relating to Red Star and the Akayevs; and any documents that might relate to Maxim Bakiyev, the fugitive son of ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev who was ousted on April 7. [For background see EurasiaNet's archive].
Mina Corp received a similar letter. The Defense Department was asked to provide contracting and financial information, as well “copies of all documents supporting Defense Energy Support Center’s representation to Congress that Red Star Enterprises in ‘[a]ffiliated with Mina Corp and several other companies.’”
The State Department was asked to provide information about the Manas facility, Red Star and Mina Corp, fuel contracts, and any documents relating to links that both the Akayev and Bakiyev families may have had to those contracts.
Sources tell EurasiaNet.org the Pentagon is “even more hesitant” than the State Department to part with information requested by investigators.
The reason for the Pentagon’s alleged anxiety may be concerns about how the documents could be used by the Kyrgyz authorities, who are conducting a parallel investigation into six companies allegedly owned by Maxim Bakiyev, who allegedly sold Russian-origin jet fuel to Red Star/Mina Corp, one source suggested. [For background see Eurasianet's archive]. Separately, Kyrgyz media outlets quoted an unnamed assistant to McFaul as saying on May 6 that the United States is “interested” in buying jet fuel directly from state-owned Kyrgyz enterprises, thereby eliminating middle-men contractors.
Temir Sariev, Kyrgyzstan’s acting finance minister contended that such a new arrangement would offer reassurances that fuel deals were not tainted by any appearance of corruption. “The removal of intermediary companies from the chain would strengthen the financial position of the [Kyrgyz] republic, and would enhance the transparency of administrative decisions at the [Manas] Transit Center,” the AKIpress news agency quoted Sariev as saying.
Mina Corp’s current contract at Manas, signed in July 2009, is worth up to $730.9 million over three years. But it contains an options clause that could allow it to be re-bid later this year.
According to the US government’s Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) website, there were no other bidders for the contract. The justification cited was the “national security” clause of the Federal Acquisition Regulations system.
Deirdre Tynan is a Bishkek-based reporter specializing in Central Asian affairs.
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