TARAZ, Kazakhstan — Kazakh officials have announced that Zhambyl Oblast customs control department in Kazakhstan’s south has launched an investigation into the export of almost 9,000 tons of radioactive coal to neighboring Kyrgyzstan.
According to officials from the Finance Ministry’s Customs Control Committee, experts are currently testing the contaminated coal.
The radioactive coal was supplied to Kyrgyzstan in September last year from the Qulan deposit in Zhambyl Oblast.
The scandal around the coal led to arrests and allegations of corruption in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz authorities announced last week that they had arrested seven officials over the decision to permit the coal to be imported.
The coal had been distributed to schools in Kyrgyzstan’s northern Chui region. Kyrgyzstan has started sending the tainted coal back to Kazakhstan earlier this week.
Copyright © 2012, RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Source Article from http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan_launches_radioactive_coal_probe/24487763.html
