Do the associations not suggest themselves?
Former MP Azimbek Beknazarov called Kanybek Tumanbaev "the second person in power after the president." This is not an official constitutional status or a position, but a political characterization. However, it very accurately conveys the current scale of authority of the Administrative Manager of the President of Kyrgyzstan, which has long gone beyond the limits of the usual "housekeeper" responsible for protocol and country dachas.
Today, Tumanbaev's agency — the Presidential Administration of the Kyrgyz Republic — has turned into a huge quasi-holding that has concentrated the country's strategic assets. Its orbit includes not only state residences and natural national parks like "Ala-Archa", "Karakol" or "Salkyn-Tör", but also the entire contour of state construction projects. The trunk communications and digital infrastructure — "Kyrgyztelecom", the operator of interdepartmental exchange "Tündük", the nationalized internet provider "ElKat" with the "Aknet" network, as well as "Kyrgyz Pochtasy" — have also moved here. The financial and housing blocks are closed through "Kylym Bank" and the monopolist of large-scale construction OJSC "State Mortgage Company". Added to this is a monopoly on printing state-importance documents and textbooks through the "Uchkun" plant, the industrial relaunch fund "Kyrgyzindustriya", and public service centers with vehicle registration.
The concentration of such volumes of national wealth in the hands of a single structure requires not enthusiastic reports, but a rigorous accounting audit. On what terms are lands being alienated, who is actually investing money, why are deadlines being missed, and who gets the multi-billion contracts?
### The Myth of the Foreign Investor and Land Barter
In October 2023, launching the construction of a five-star hotel in Kara-Oy, Tumanbaev assured that Kyrgyzstan would become the safest haven for business, where the law unconditionally applies, and backed these words by transferring 17.24 hectares of land on Issyk-Kul to Azerbaijani investors. A year later, this scheme faced harsh reality. On October 11, 2024, the official informed the tenants of the "Bishkek" FEZ territory about the seizure of plots by the state under the pretext of non-fulfillment of obligations. Businessmen, who claimed investments of about $25 million, spoke of the absence of a court decision and administrative pressure. In a state governed by the rule of law, an investor is protected by an open procedure and an independent assessment, not by the sole statement of the administrative manager.
This gap between words and actions is particularly noticeable in a series of statements about foreign partners. In the ecological city of "Asman", whose state directorate is directly subordinate to the Presidential Administration, public investors succeeded each other with cinematic speed. From French consulting structures promising $20 billion to the South Korean company Promise Land for $1 billion and subsequent framework protocols with Chinese construction corporations. In reality, real foreign currency capital never arrived.
A similar picture emerged around the new building of the Presidential Administration "Yntymak Ordo". The public was promised a facility without a single budget som at the expense of an "investor", which in fact turned out to be a consortium of local developers ("TS Group", structures of "Express-Stroy KG"), who received in return 16 hectares of expensive state land in the south of the capital.
The same story was repeated with the Bishkek hippodrome "Ak-Kula". Instead of the expected $70 million in foreign investment, the historic city territory was demolished and transferred for residential commercial development controlled by the SMC, while the new facility is being built through internal redistributions of budget and land resources. Classic investors here are replaced either by direct in-kind barter of "land in exchange for concrete" or by pumping resources out of state-owned companies attached to the Presidential Administration.
### Sponsors with an "X" Sign
Using the same closed financing scheme, the Presidential Administration also organizes major image projects. Under the supervision of Tumanbaev's agency, preparations were underway for the World Nomad Games (WNG-2026), where budget expenditures were accompanied by non-public fundraising from large businesses and state enterprises.
Then the Presidential Administration took over the organization and security of the stadium concert of Colombian pop diva Shakira at the new "Bishkek Arena". To legitimate questions about the star's fabulous fees, Tumanbaev habitually replied that the state would not spend "a single tyiyn", since the event was organized by a certain "private company". But this is precisely where the systemic flaw of the created scheme manifests itself. When a high-status state agency attracts unnamed "sponsors" to cover multi-million expenses, the public hits a brick wall. Who are these hidden benefactors? In exchange for what preferences, lands, or construction contracts does private business take on state-scale expenses?
In civilized anti-corruption practice, the concept of "anonymous sponsorship" of high-ranking officials is considered a direct risk zone. Hidden financial injections inevitably return to investors in the form of closed state contracts or turning a blind eye to violations.
### Missed Deadlines and Million-Dollar Holes in the Audit
While public promises paint a picture of flawless management, deadlines continue to shift. In January 2026, Tumanbaev confidently stated that the new Osh market and bus station would be put into operation strictly on schedule in May. In early September, the rhetoric changed: he was already talking about 90% readiness and vague "coming months."
Much more alarming data is contained in official documents. The draft report on the Karakol airport published on the portal of the Chamber of Accounts recorded a direct overstatement of prices for construction materials by companies by 3.58 million soms. Out of the total funding of the complex of 2.18 billion soms, almost 1.3 billion hung in the air in the form of accounts receivable of the contractor, acts of completed work had not been transferred at the time of the audit, and the commissioning of the facility was not confirmed to the auditors at all. The recommendation of the Chamber of Accounts to return the overpayment and close the debt within a three-month period shows an acute financial crisis at the facility, which was presented as a model of thriftiness.
### Contractor Pool and Intersection of Interests
Of particular interest is the fact that the involved contracting organizations move from project to project. The company "Inshaat stroy building" simultaneously surfaced in the investigation of the construction of the "Muras" residential area for the State Mortgage Company controlled by the Presidential Administration. Journalists then found out that the former owner of "Inshaat", Ermek Atantaev, in 2022 re-registered the construction firm "BKS" to himself, which had belonged to Tumanbaev before he entered civil service. In addition, the co-founder of "Inshaat", Akbarali Abdrazakov, in the summer of 2026 was included in the board of directors of the same SMC — the structure that orders construction and makes decisions on financing.
Similar parallels are visible in the car plant project, where discrepancies arose in the names of investors — from Hubei Zhuoyue to LLC "Hubei Jisu Investment", and plots were allocated to a company associated with the official's alleged relatives. In the Batken case, where savings of a billion soms were reported due to lower housing costs, the key executor was the firm "Amanat Stroy Invest".
Despite public assurances from the head of the Presidential Administration about the absence of any links with the contractor, it is this contractor that continues to receive key state orders. In the construction register of the State Agency for Architecture and Construction, the departmental State Enterprise "Kyrgyzstroytservis" is officially listed as the customer for the facility, and the executor is the same "Amanat Stroy Invest".
### Why Should the Second Person Show the Accounts?
In the official database of suppliers, the name of Kanybek Tumanbaev does not appear among the participants in public procurement. This is understandable: major players rarely register contracts in their own name, and special government decisions allowed most of the Presidential Administration's projects to be removed from general competitive restrictions. However, the overall picture leaves no doubt about the existence of a closed monopoly ecosystem. The Presidential Administration has accumulated powerful financial, land, and infrastructural levers. External independent investments are replaced by the barter of state lands or secret sponsorship contributions for major events. Multi-billion construction volumes are transferred to affiliated contractors, whose managers are members of the governing bodies of the relevant state companies, while official auditors record overstated estimates and outstanding billion-dollar advances.
Until the primary documents are published, it is legally impossible to accuse the head of the agency of personal corruption. But the status of the unspoken leader of the executive vertical and statements about "saving every tyiyn" oblige to make the system transparent. The Presidential Administration must present to the public full estimates, financial closing acts, the names of private sponsors of sports games and concert venues, exchange agreements for elite capital lands, and protocols for appointing contractors. Otherwise, the thesis of saving state funds will remain only a screen for the uncontrolled redistribution of national resources in the interests of a single person. For now — only the second, by status.