Ömürbek Babanov

Ömürbek Toktogulovich Babanov (Өмүрбек Токтогулович (Токтогул уулу) Бабанов, ; born 20 May 1970) is a Kyrgyz politician who served twice as the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan in 2011–12.

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.

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
On May 31, 2021, he was detained as part of an investigation involving the Kumtor Gold Mine. On November 28, 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.

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.