Escrow Payments Continue, Officials Say

TALAS — Export proceeds paid into the escrow accounts supervised by the Irad Foreign Trade Escrow Authority are being released to exporters as usual, officials said yesterday, five weeks after Governor Erlan Toktarov last appeared in public.

An official of the authority, speaking at its offices in the Silk Road Financial Tower, said that contracts for crude oil, antimony, beef and pedigree horses had continued to be registered and that royalties and duties were being deducted and remitted "without interruption". The Bank of Irad said in a separate statement that the payment system and the fixed rate of five som to the dollar were unaffected.

Opposition commentators and several exile outlets have asked who has authorized disbursements from the accounts since the Department of Public Information announced last month that the Governor had begun an extended health retreat. Asked by the Herald, the department said that the Lieutenant Governor, Aidar Maksat, acts for the Governor under the Elective Governor Acts. It did not say whether any formal delegation of authority had been made.

The authority has not published audited accounts since 2008, and opposition deputies have repeatedly asked for its statements to be laid before the Mejlis. Kamran Bekzatov of NurGaz, the largest exporter registered with the authority, has long criticized delays in the release of export proceeds. A NurGaz spokesman said yesterday that the company had "no new complaint to make this month".