The former Minister of Health, Kosmosbek Cholponbaev, is charged with negligence and abuse of office during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the investigation, the leader of the Ministry of Health abused his official position, acting against the interests of the people and the state. The Ministry entered into a deliberately unprofitable contract for consulting services, which cost the state budget about 65 million soms ($820,000).
Under Cholponbaev’s leadership, hospitals were not ready to receive a large number of people infected with the Covid19 virus, and there was a lack of medical equipment and vital drugs.
On March 31, at a meeting of the Security Council, President Sooronbai Jeenbekov harshly addressed the Minister: ‘In January, you said that all our laboratories were ready. But it turned out that this is not the case. There were insufficient reagents for testing. The ministry had to take prompt measures in due time, which was not done.’
On April 1, Cholponbaev was dismissed, and placed in the pretrial detention center 1 in Bishkek.
