U.S. sanctions ex-customs deputy chief of Kyrgyzstan Raim Matraimov

AKIPRESS.COM - The United States has imposed sanctions against former Kyrgyz deputy chairman of state customs service Raimbek Matraimov.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced on December 9 that it has sanctioned Matraimov for his role in a vast corruption and money laundering scheme in Kyrgyzstan.
The $700 million scheme involved a company controlled by Matraimov bribing officials to skirt around customs fees and regulations, as well as engaging in money laundering, allowing for maximum profits, the Treasury Department said.
"Matraimov, utilizing his former position as deputy of the Kyrgyz Customs Service, made hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of his involvement in the customs scheme," it said.
The sanctions fall under the Magnitsky Act, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009 and also to grant permanent normal trade relations status to Russia.
Since 2016, the bill, which applies globally, authorizes the U.S. government to sanction those who it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the U.S.