Kyrgyzstan's playboy 'prince' accused of financing unrest

Bishkek: Authorities have accused the son of Kyrgyzstan's ousted president, nicknamed "the Prince" and known for his playboy lifestyle, of being a prime instigator of ethnic violence gripping the country.

Uzbek officials have said that over 75,000 people have fled the ethnic fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan.

Maxim Bakiyev, 32, known for his penchant for luxury, is the son of the country's former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was toppled in violent street protests in April and subsequently fled the country.

"The 'wallet' of these riots is the son of the former president, Maxim Bakiyev, who started financing the riots back in April," first deputy president Almazbek Atambayev said at a news conference.

Atambayev said that the inter-ethnic riots — in which at least 170 people have died in five days of bloody violence — were paid for with $10 million (Dh36.7 million) from Bakiyev's pocket.

Maxim Bakiyev was arrested on Monday in Britain after being listed as wanted by Interpol, Kyrgyz officials said.

He landed in Britain in a private plane in an apparent bid to apply for asylum.

The Kyrgyz authorities said they would fight for Maxim Bakiyev's extradition. His family have denied any involvement with the latest unrest.

"We have facts and proof that he is guilty of crimes, which I hope will help us bring him to trial and we will of course ask Britain to extradite Maxim Bakiyev," interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Maxim Bakiyev occupied top posts under his father and was nicknamed the "Prince" by opposition activists.

Control of state assets

After studying law, he was appointed to head the Kyrgyz Central Agency for Development, Investment, and Innovations, a post that gave him control of state assets and loans.

Maxim Bakiyev "practically took into his hands the management of executive power," Otunbayeva told the Echo of Moscow radio station in February.

Members of his entourage told the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda that he had a taste for luxury, playing with a deck of gold playing cards and wearing expensive Swiss watches.

Maxim Bakiyev was popular with women and dated a series of girlfriends, including models, before marrying the daughter of Bishkek's former mayor, the tabloid reported in April.

He is reportedly a shareholder of Britain's Blackpool football club — and was even photographed on the stands with the club's president, Latvian businessman Valery Belokon.

Hundreds dead in Kyrgyzstan

Meanwhile, a plane carrying the first foreign aid for refugees, who fled the violence in Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, arrived on Wednesday in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan, officials said.

The aid came a day after the Red Cross said that several hundred people have been killed in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan since rioting began last Thursday.

The plane carried supplies from The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), officials from the local branch of the emergency situations ministry told an AFP correspondent at the airport.

The first plane was carrying 800 tents to house the refugees and two more UNHCR flights were expected to bring more supplies later in the day.

The United Nations has urged Kyrgyzstan not to allow deadly ethnic unrest to derail a key referendum and subsequent parliamentary elections.

The deputy leader of the interim government warned that Violence in southern Kyrgyzstan could spread to the capital Bishkek and another region of the north.