CORRUPT POLICE OFFICIAL CHARGED WITH PROTECTING A

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 003182 SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/AAE (BUHLER),G/TIP, SCA/CEN (O'MARA) SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR SOCI KCRM KZ SUBJECT: CORRUPT POLICE OFFICIAL CHARGED WITH PROTECTING A PROSTITUTION RING. ASTANA 00003182 001.2 OF 002 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. A senior police official has been charged with abuse of his professional functions and falsifying evidence in connection with his facilitating the illegal business activities of an Almaty madam. In March, the local newspaper Vremya began publishing a series of articles about the official and the madam. (Note: The following information comes exclusively from media reports and does not contain information received from the police or courts. End Note.) -------------- MAMA ROZA AND CAPTAIN MOROZOV -------------- ¶2. Olga Kodonidi, known as Mama Roza, is a 45 year-old woman who started working in the commercial sex trade in 1997. In the beginning, she had only a few girls in her brothel. Over time she hired approximately 100 girls from the ages of 18 to 25 from Uzbekistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan. Her net income has been estimated at sixty thousand dollars per month and her assets are estimated at five million dollars. ¶3. For his participation in Mama Roza's illegal business activities, Captain Igor Morozov, the former head of the anti-trafficking in persons unit of the Ministry of Interior (MVD),has been charged with abuse of his professional functions and falsifying evidence. He faces up to eight years in prison on the first charge and three to seven on the second one. Morozov was allegedly paid thousands of dollars to look after Madam Roza's prostitutes and brothels. ¶4. In one incident in September 2006, Mama Roza asked Morozov to help her resolve a disagreement with the owner of the Alladdin sauna, who refused to allow Mama Roza's prostitutes to work in the sauna. Mama Roza asked Morozov to arrest the owner, surname Zhuravleva, on a false pimping charge. Morozov sent police to the sauna to "catch" Morozov's driver, playing the part of a client, with two of her prostitutes. A criminal case was opened and Zhuravleva received a prison sentence in January. A court recently overturned the sentence and freed Zhuravleva. ¶5. A criminal case against Morozov reached the courts only because the investigation of his activities was well planned and personally directed by the Minister of Interior. The Minister dispatched a team from the Ministry's Department of Personal Security to Almaty to conduct the investigation. Several senior police officers have been fired for their connections with criminal enterprises. More than ten officers are under investigation for their connections to various criminal groups. -------------- MVD TAKING ACTION -------------- ¶6. The MVD has taken a firm position in this matter. The Minister of Interior stated that police officers who work for criminals or are corrupt will receive the most severe punishment. At the same time, the police are taking active measures against pimps, brothel operators, and prostitutes. Recently, they have arrested eighteen pimps, sixteen of whom are before the courts. Nine brothels and four hotels have been closed and 476 foreign prostitutes have been expelled from the country. -------------- PROSTITUTION IN KAZAKHSTAN -------------- ¶7. The press has also recently reported that: - More than 20 police officers from the rank of Major to Colonel are allegedly on pimps' payrolls and some live with the pimps; - Every year more than five thousand prostitutes depart from the Almaty International Airport to work as prostitutes abroad. Few of them return and their whereabouts are unknown; - On the black market, a Kyrgyz passport costs USD 450-1000 and an Uzbek passport USD 800-2000. A Kazakhstani passport is the most expensive and costs USD 3000-10,000. It costs USD 50-300 to cross the Kazakhstani border illegally; - Successful pimps pay police as much as USD 10,000, small-scale pimps pay USD 2000-6000. Each prostitute pays police USD 30-100. - In 1999, police arrested and registered 17,000 prostitutes. This year, police arrested and registered 85,000. -------------- ASTANA 00003182 002.2 OF 002 COMMENT -------------- ¶8. It is a welcome sign that the media in Kazakhstan is writing about corruption in the police force. It is also encouraging that senior police officials appear to be expressing intolerance toward corruption and taking measures against it. End comment. ORDWAY