Couple of months after we invested, we received our first ‘payment’ of 85.000 soms in December 2008. I say ‘payment’ because when we got it, it was a dividend. It could not be anything else, we are shareholders. Later Nurgazy said it was not a dividend but a return of investment. We did not sign any agreement regarding changing our investment status. Nurgazy made the decision on his own, even though we owned 45% of OcOO Trilight.

We also received financial information for October, November and December 2008. Trilight Financials 2008

I do not know how Nurgazy calculated the ‘payments and how much ‘payments’ he received. We were not shown any calculations and when I looked at the financials, it did not make sense to me.

This was our first investment in Kyrgyzstan. I had never seen this approach regarding investments. I was learning a lot but definitely was not enjoying the experience! I was used to dealing with people who follow laws and contracts, at least some of it! When laws and contracts are followed and results delivered, it becomes easier to attract more investments. We discussed this in detail with Nurgazy many times. Kyrgyzstan has laws, and we signed an agreement. But this did not seem to matter to Nurgazy. Nurgazy’s way of doing business reminded me of how business is done in bazaars. Buyers and sellers do not sign a contract but I guess there are unwritten rules or expectations. This is perhaps also known as ethical standards.

‘Payments’ was not the only issue. In December 2008, Nurgazy, without discussing with us and without any paperwork, decided to start paying himself a salary of 40,000 soms per month and rent of 80.000 soms per month. Before we signed the contract, we did discuss salary for Nurgazy. He told me that he will not take salary until he get married. We did not have this in writing. I guess even if we had it in writing, it would not have mattered.

On December 15, 2008 I met with Nurgazy to discuss the decision making process. I explained that these things are very important. I was in discussions with many foreign organisations. Actions like this can have a negative impact. Providing nice sales and profit figures are not enough. To gain foreign organisations confidence, we need to show good governance. After much discussions Nurgazy agreed that in future such issues will first be discussed. Of course it never happened.

Another issue was the land that we supposedly purchased. Nurgazy’s friend’s brother who worked in Government facilitated the purchase. On Jan 30, 2009 Nurgazy informed me that Mirdan (his friend) asked him for another two months to finalise the land deal. Mirdan said he will give another land if the first one will not go through. Nurgazy said the replacement land is in a prestigious location. I do not know what happened. Perhaps another land was provided and Nurgazy kept it. Or the money refunded to him. We paid but never got anything in return.

After we invested, we shared an office in an apartment I was renting in Erkindik Boulevard. Things were good until the issues started. And then Nurgazy decided to move out of the office. This kind of indicated that he no longer wanted to work with us. Our contract and payment for shares did not matter. He mentioned that he preferred to work alone and also did not like the idea of sharing 45% of profits. I told him that if that is what he wanted, his option was to buy our shares. Nurgazy made us a few offers to buy our shares. When you see the offers in the next article, you will understand why we could not accept it.

Note: A criminal case is currently open. These are two most recent letters I received from the prosecutor.

уведомление

Opening of Criminal Case March 2018

Next article: Nurgazy’s Offer: It is not a Joke

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