[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 166 (Tuesday, December 4, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              KAZAKHSTAN'S DICTATOR MUST CLEAN UP HIS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 4, 2001

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I understand that the corrupt and 
repressive dictator of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nzarbayev, plans to visit 
Washington early next year in search of U.S. approval and a dampening 
of the Administration's criticism of the Nazarbayev regime's deplorable 
human rights record. Following the tragic events of September 11th, 
Nazarbayev promised to ``support action against terrorism by all 
available means.'' He made it clear to a reporter that this support 
would include military bases and the use of Kazakhstan's air space.
  Yet, Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency reported that Kazakhstan's 
Minister of Defense, Sap Topakbayev, stated on November 8 that 
Kazakhstan was not planning to set up any airfields for the U.S. Air 
Force on its territory. ITAR-TASS went on to quote Topakbayev as saying 
that ``after the tragic events in the United States, any contact with 
the Americans raises many questions.'' If Mr. Nazarbayev is to be 
granted meetings at the White House, he should at the very least be 
pressed to provide an unambiguous commitment to support the war on 
terrorism.
  In addition, Moscow's Centre TV on February 17, 2001, accused the 
Nazarbayev regime of illegally selling weapons to ``criminal regimes.'' 
Centre TV reported that among the sales were the advanced Russian-made 
S-300 air defense system and heavy tanks. Although Centre TV did not 
name the countries receiving arms from Kazakhstan, Britain's Guardian 
reported on August 14, 2001 that the S-300's may have ended up in 
Sudan. In any event, the United States has had many run-ins with the 
Nazarbayev regime over arms sales. Early last year, for example, 
Kazakhstan sold forty MIG fighters to North Korea. And on June 4, 1997, 
the Washington Times reported that the U.S. had protested plans by 
Kazakhstan to sell advanced air defense missiles to Iran. So there is a 
disturbing pattern of arms sales to rogue states and no known 
commitment by Nazarbayev to end them. He needs to make such a 
commitment, and now!
  Finally, It has come to my attention that on September 14, 2001 the 
Swiss Federal Department of Justice made available to the U.S. 
Department of Justice the findings of a lengthy investigation of 
corruption involving President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, a 
former director of Mobil Oil, Mr. J. Bryan Williams, and a senior 
official of the Geneva-based bank Credit Agricole Indosuez. According 
to Swiss press reports, the Swiss investigation into money laundering 
and other corrupt activities has established the existence of a bribery 
chain set up in the 1990's by James Giffen, a U.S. businessman who 
reportedly acted as a mediator between several oil companies and 
officials of the government of Kazakhstan, including President 
Nazarbayev. The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating 
Giffen's activities since last year.
  I would thus urge President Bush not to host someone whose regime has 
been condemned by leading human rights organizations, has trafficked in 
arms with rogue states, has been ambiguous in its support of the war on 
terrorism, and is under investigation by both Swiss and U.S. law 
enforcement agencies. Further, a priority objective of U.S. policy 
should be to insist that Mr. Nazarbayev clean up his act.

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