Eye Microsurgery Hospital fails to repay loan. South Korea’s PM intervenes

During an official visit to Kyrgyzstan in July 2019, the Prime Minister of South Korea Lee Nak-yon raised the issue of a debt to Korean investors. The Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan reported.
It is about the debt of the Eye Microsurgery Hospital to the South Korean company Madison Co. Ltd. In 1997-1998, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Kyrgyzstan issued guarantee letters to Madison Co. Ltd. (Korea) for medical equipment worth over $ 8.5 million for equipping the KSNU Medical Center.
The founders of the center were KSNU and Eye Microsurgery LLC of Almazbek Ismankulov. Almazbek Ismankulov himself was a Vice Rector of KSNU for International Relations and Medicine at that time. He was authorized to sign an agreement and relevant documents for the loan on behalf of the university. In May 1999, the equipment was delivered to Eye Microsurgery LLC.
"In 2000, after KSNU's withdrawal from the founders of KSNU Medical Center Interhospital LLC, the main defendant in the repayment of debts was the Medical Center Interhospital LLC. So far, Almazbek Ismankulov's Eye Microsurgery Hospital has not paid the technical loan received in the form of equipment to the Korean side. Criminal proceedings were instituted against the heads of the Ministry of Education, KSNU and the director of Eye Microsurgery LLC Almazbek Ismankulov on this fact. But they were discontinued due to the expiration of the statute of limitations and criminal prosecution," the Ministry of Education stressed.
"This situation harms the investment climate and casts a shadow on the country's image. Now we have filed a lawsuit to the Bishkek Interdistrict Court on non-return by the hospital of Almazbek Ismankulov of the funds to the South Korean company. We plan to resolve the issue within the framework of the current legislation of Kyrgyzstan," the ministry said.