Germany-based non-governmental organization
Eurasian Transition Group (ETG) has released an apology to Latvian
businessman and banker Valerijs Belokons for running an article about a
research wrongly implicating the businessman in corrupt deals in
Kyrgyzstan.

ETG
is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that pursues democratic change,
civic rights and freedoms, and mass media freedom in Central Asia, informs LETA.

In a statement posted on its
website, ETG admits its negligence in
respect of fact-checking and apologizes personally Belokons, his credit
institution in Kyrgyzstan, Manas Bank,
and Latvian company Maval Aktivi for
having disseminated false and misleading information.

In the statement, ETG informs that, contrary to its
previous statement, Maxim Bakiyev,
the son of the ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek
Bakiyev, has never been and is not owner and shareholder of Manas Bank, and that the credit
institution is solely owned by Belokons.

Latvia-incorporated Maval Aktivi, whose former owners were
Belokons and Maxim Bakiyev has never been and currently is not connected or
linked to Asia Universal Bank (AUB), notes ETG, adding that Belokons has never been member of the Board of
Directors of MGN Group and has never
had any contacts or connection therewith.

Kyrgyz Prosecutor General’s Office
has mentioned AUB as one of the banks
where Maxim Bakiyev had deposited USD 300 million that Kyrgyzstan had borrowed
from Russia, and most part of this amount was later transferred to the
contradictory investor Yevgeniy
Gurevich’s company MGN Group.

ETG
also informs in its statement that Maval
Aktivi has not made any payments to Asia Universal Bank. No funds transfers
and cash remittances have ever been made to Cyprus or Austria on behalf of Maval Aktivi, and Maval Aktivi has never held any accounts in Manas Bank.

ETG
also retracts the allegation that Belokons has been member of the Board of
Directors of MGN Group. Belokons
currently holds the post of chairperson of the Council of Baltic International Bank, and he is not CEO of Baltic International Bank and he was not
CEO of Baltic International Bank as
for the date of publication of the article, notes ETG.

As reported, in August 2011, Clifford Chance attorneys for Belokons
began arbitration proceedings against Kyrgyz authorities.

Belokon
Holdings informed that, after the overthrow of Kyrgyz government last
April, Belokons was dispossessed of Manas
Bank by members of the new Kyrgyz political power. To justify the unlawful
expropriation of property, Kyrgyz authorities launched a number of fabricated
cases against Manas Bank and the
bank