On the occasion of the International Anticorruption Day and International Human Rights Day, the Department of State and the Department of the Treasury announced sanctions designations and visa restrictions on corrupt actors and human rights abusers. Below is a summary of these actions taken pursuant to “Executive Order (E.O.) 13818 and Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020 (Div. G, P.L. 116-94), as carried forward by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 (Div. A, P.L. 116-159).” A visual representation of designations under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program can be found here
Kyrgyz Republic
- Raimbek Matraimov
Raimbek Matraimov, a former Deputy of the Kyrgyz Customs Service, was involved in a customs scheme in which at least USD 700 million was laundered from the Kyrgyz Republic. Matraimov is designated under E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person who is a current or former government official responsible for or complicit in, or directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
Additionally, Matraimov is designated under Section 7031(c) due to his involvement in significant corruption while acting in his official capacity. Under Section 7031(c), when the Secretary of State has credible information of foreign government officials’ involvement, directly or indirectly, in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States. The law also requires the Secretary of State to either publicly or privately designate officials and their immediate family members. In addition to Matraimov, the Department is designating his spouse, Uulkan Turgunova.
