According to him, there are 108 tons of gold in the tailings storage, of which it was previously planned to process 80 tons, but the project was not completed.
Bolturuk also added that in 2022, due to protests in Almaty and the start of the war in Ukraine, there were delays in the supply of materials and spare parts for "Kumtor" at the border. "I had to fly to Iran for negotiations to resume supplies, and an agreement was also reached to lease the port of Bandar Abbas, which gave Kyrgyzstan access to international sea routes," he noted.
Nevertheless, he expressed regret that after these events, some officials began to act against him, and his contribution to the company's development was not properly appreciated.
In September 2022, the General Prosecutor's Office conducted an audit of the activities of "Kumtor Gold Company" and uncovered a corruption scheme causing damage to the state amounting to 1 billion soms. As a result, three criminal cases were initiated, and on September 13, 2022, Bolturuk was detained.
The Accounts Chamber presented the results of the audit of the company's activities during the period of external management from May 2021 to June 2022, in which Bolturuk was accused of:
- allocating $1.9 million for unfinished projects of the "Heritage of Great Nomads";
- allocating $1.7 million for employee salaries;
- transferring $51,000 to a Swiss company for services without documentation;
- leasing office space in Bishkek for nearly $73,000 per month;
- spending $2.3 million on furniture and finishing a new office in Bishkek;
- unjustifiably increasing the staff by 37% and excessively rewarding himself;
- and other financial violations.
It should be noted that the audit of "Kumtor's" activities was personally initiated by Sadyr Japarov, as he reported on his Facebook on May 10, 2022.
Lawyer Kaysyn Abakirov stated that his client's actions do not constitute a crime and their results should be considered in their entirety.
At the end of April 2023, Tengiz Bolturuk and other defendants in the corruption case reimbursed 844 million 512 thousand soms to the budget, which is about 80% of the total damage. It is not specified how much Bolturuk contributed directly, but this was enough to satisfy the request of his lawyers, and he was released from pre-trial detention under house arrest. On July 4, his arrest was extended until August 10, and in mid-September, it became known that the criminal case was suspended due to the illness of the defendant.
On November 21, 2023, judge Ilyazbek Tajibaev of the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek issued a ruling in Bolturuk's case, imposing a fine of 800,000 soms, lifting the arrest on his accounts (with $2,065 and 5,601 soms) after the verdict came into effect, and ordering the transfer of 10 million soms received by the General Prosecutor's Office for damage compensation to "Kumtor."
