# Ömürbek Babanov

Ömürbek Toktogulovich Babanov (born 20 May 1970) is a Kyrgyz businessman and politician who served twice as the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan briefly from 2011 to 2012. Owner of Mbank and of Asia Cement, a company that co-operates with the Russian nuclear industry.

## Political career

Before his appointment as Prime Minister, Babanov was Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Almazbek Atambayev. He was also acting Prime Minister from 23 September 2011 until 14 November 2011, as Prime Minister Atambayev was a candidate in the presidential election. He again became acting Prime Minister on 1 December 2011 when Atambayev took office as President. He was confirmed by Parliament on 23 December 2011. On 1 September 2012 Babanov resigned as Prime Minister.
Babanov participated in Kyrgyzstan's presidential election in 2017 as an independent. During a television debate, candidate Sooronbay Jeenbekov promised to imprison Babanov as part of a proposed fight against corruption. He came second to Jeenbekov with 33% of the vote.

## Activities

In the early 2000s, he became one of the founders of the Alliance gas station network. In 2004, the company had 520 petrol stations across Russia and Ukraine. He sold his stake in the business in 2006.
From 2000 to 2005, he was a shareholder of the NTS TV company. From 2010 to 2017, he owned a channel through Ayant LLC.
In 2008, Babanov took over raiding the Bank Kyrgyzstan (now Mbank). On 5 March 2024 Omurbek Babanov became the holder of a 98% stake in Mbank.
In 2014 Babanov became an investor in the Russian cement production plant ‘Asia-Cement’. He owns 100% of the company through PENZA ESTATE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY since 2022.
In 2016, it was alleged that Babanov was a co-owner of Alliance Altyn. It was this company that acquired the rights to develop the Djerui gold deposit, considered the second largest in the country.
In 2016, Babanov invested $10-12 million in the Frunze hypermarket chain in exchange for acquiring a 50 per cent stake in the company.
On 24 April 2024, businessman Bolotmambet Jeenbekov, who had previously worked with Omurbek Babanov, accused the latter of fraudulently acquiring a fifty percent stake worth $10 million.
The businessman's relatives own at least 23 companies, including travel, pharmaceutical and construction firms.

## Family and wealth

With an estimated wealth of $1.5 billion, he is one of the richest people in Kyrgyzstan.
Babanov is half-Turkish and half-Kyrgyz. His mother was from the Turkish Meskhetian minority group in Georgia; she was forcefully deported from Batumi to Kyrgyzstan during World War II. Babanov's wife is Kazakh. His family's ethnic background were used to smear him during the 2017 election.

## Controversy

In 2011, Omurbek Abdrakhmanov, head of one of the commissions investigating the dispute over a controlling stake in mobile operator Megacom, accused Babanov of raiding the company.
On 4 November 2017, Omurbek Babanov's speech during the election campaign became a reason for the Prosecutor's Office of the Kyrgyz Republic to initiate criminal proceedings for allegedly inciting inter-ethnic conflict and the overthrow of the authorities.
After two criminal cases were filed against him, he was in Russia from November 2017 to August 2019.
On 31 May 2021, he was detained as part of an investigation involving the Kumtor Gold Mine.
On 28 November 2023, Kamchybek Tashiev, the Chairman of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan, stated that among all those accused in the course of the investigation, only Omurbek Babanov was not held accountable due to the absence of a criminal case against him.
According to earlier information, Mbank cooperates in processing operations with the russian centre Kartstandart (a member of the US sanctioned CFT group) and its affiliate CSI («Си-Эс-Ай»).
It later emerged that Babanov's company, Asia Cement, is working with Russia's nuclear industry.
Babanov himself is reportedly facing potential sanctions over allegations that his company, Asia Cement, is linked to Russia's nuclear industry.
In 2024, international media accused Babanov of removing negative information about his companies' activities from the media.

### Sanction evasion warehouse

In 2023, Russian media reported that a firm linked to the Babanov family would build a warehouse for Russian companies, which would likely use it to circumvent sanctions.

### Purchase of a passport

The leader of the Ar-Namys faction in 2012, Felix Kulov, said that First Deputy Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov admitted to him that he had purchased a Kazakh passport. “I asked Omurbek Babanov about the Kazakh passport and he admitted to me that he bought it because he was doing business in Kazakhstan, and could not return it because he acquired it illegally,” said the head of Ar-Namys. Kazakh media found the passport in the database.

### Raider takeover of the Kyrgyzstan Bank and NTS TV channel

Babanov was repeatedly accused of raider takeovers, using connections with the authorities as the main way to enrich himself. He was accused of the raider seizure of the Kyrgyzstan Bank[26] and the NTS TV channel. The ex-owner of the bank, Kalicha Umuralieva, stated:
“I will name the names of three people involved in the raiding: Maxim Bakiev (son of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiev), Omurbek Babanov, Alexey Eliseev. We were offered to combine 60% of the shares and transfer them to Babanov. We refused. , but then they began to threaten our children. Babanov simply liked our bank, so he decided to take it into his own hands. I had to give it away. In our country there are no guarantees for domestic investors. But the shares were taken from us not by organized crime groups, but by people who held high posts in the Cabinet of Ministers. Babanov was prime minister"
The NTS TV channel was formed on the basis of the VOSST TV and Radio Company, which was owned by the famous businessman Valery Khon under President Askar Akayev. The entrepreneur said that his oil base and television channel were raided by Babanov’s people with the support of the presidential family. After the events of March 2005, the TV channel was re-registered to other persons. Those around Babanov claimed that control of NTS had passed into the hands of the Bakiyev family. And after the April events of 2010, he again returned to Babanov, who, as is known, was on good terms with the head of the “provisional government” Roza Otunbayeva. Parliamentarians stated that the TV channel should have been transferred to the state, and not handed over to Babanov.