On 7 October, 2020 the Turkmen President dismissed the Chairperson of Turkmenistan’s Migration Office Mergen Gurdov.
A source of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” reports that the NSM is carrying out an investigation into the case of Gurdov, who has been charged with corruption.
As of today it has transpired that regional offices of the Migration Service deliberately delayed the process of issuing international travel passports. Bribes were extorted from residents in order to obtain international travel passports on time.
Once a month each regional office transferred considerable amounts up to $20.000 to Gurdov.
It was proved that in August 2019 an amount of $50.000 was handed over to a 23 year old Sonagul H. (referred to as the second wife) in Moscow.
She is registered in a residential district Parakhat-1 in Ashgabat.Previously she was deported from Russia for violating a visa regime but, thanks to Gurdov, she was able to return there.
The person who illegally brought the indicated amount to Russia (a 52 year old native of the city of Mary) has been detained and is giving testimony in the Mary velayat NSM office.
This summer, when the borders between the countries were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, two female residents of Mary, who are officially employed in the State holding “Turkmenkhaly”, were able to return to Turkmenistan from Azerbaijan under Gurdov’s protection.
It turned out that they had imported hand-made carpets and gold jewelry for further resale without having to pay customs duties.Both have been detained.
A few more incidents in Mergen Gurdov’s case have been reported. However, we have no further details.