Kyrgyz Deputy Arrested For Alleged Corruption

Kyrgyz member of parliament Sadyr Japarov

BISHKEK -- The Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's office says a lawmaker has been arrested on charges of fraud and corruption.

Sadyr Japarov of the opposition Ata-Jurt (Homeland) party was arrested on September 17.

Ata-Jurt says Japarov's arrest is politically motivated.

According to officials, Japarov's arrest is connected to an investigation into the son of another lawmaker employed by the Bishkek Prosecutor's Office, Eldar Madylbekov, who was detained on September 15.

Madylbekov is suspected of illegally obtaining property that used to belong to ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev.

Madylbekov's father, Turatbek Madylbekov, is chairman of the Kyrgyz parliament's anticorruption committee.

Ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiev fled Kyrgyzstan after he was toppled by antigovernment protests in April 2010.

He has been residing in Belarus since then.