MOSCOW, June 14 (UPI) -- Russian officials arrested an aide to ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and there are discussions ongoing for his extradition, a Kyrgyz official said.
Former AziaUniversalBank chief Sergei Kostyuk was arrested last week in Moscow during a joint operation carried out by Kyrgyz and Russian authorities. He's accused of fraud and charges related to diverting Bakiyev's funds.
Tilek Alibayev, the chief Kyrgyz investigator in the case, said the arrest was tied to an investigation into ethnic violence that gripped southern Kyrgyzstan after the April 2010 coup.
The investigator said Kostyuk had ties to Bakiyev's son, Maxim.
"(Kostyuk) could shed some light where the money in the accounts of the Bakiyev family came from," Alibayev was quoted by Kyrgyz news agency 24 as saying. "The question of his extradition is now being resolved."
Forces loyal to Roza Otunbayeva removed Bakiyev from power in an April 2010 coup, forcing the leader to flee his safe haven in the south of the country to Belarus.
Ethnic conflict erupted in June 2010 pitting Kyrgyzs against the Uzbek community in the south of the country.
At least 470 people were killed during ethnic conflicts centered on Osh and Jalal Abad. Most of the victims of the violence were ethnic Uzbeks.
