A brother of the Kyrgyz president yesterday denied allegations he ordered heroin planted in the luggage of the Central Asian nation's main opposition leader, and a former airport security official claimed written testimony he purportedly gave about the matter was falsified.

On Tuesday, the country's intelligence chief said that he and his top deputy, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's brother Janybek, were resigning amid a scandal that erupted after former Parliament Speaker Omurbek Tekebayev was detained in Poland when 600 grams of heroin was found hidden inside a Russian nested doll in his bags.

Tekebayev was later released for lack of evidence, and National Security Service Chairman Busurmankul Tabyldiyev announced the resignations after a parliament session at which testimony attributed to the security chief at Bishkek's airport, Nadyr Mamyrov, suggested Janybek Bakiyev had ordered him to set up Tekebayev.

Janybek Bakiyev denied involvement, telling a news conference he gave no such orders and saying the scandal was a "provocation" aimed at destabilizing the ex-Soviet republic, which has been buffeted by political tension since the opposition protests that ousted the long-time president and ushered his brother to power.

Bakiyev also questioned the legitimacy of the testimony that was presented to parliament on Tuesday, which was attributed to Mamyrov and said Bakiyev had ordered him to conduct a "special operation" with Tekebayev's baggage as he departed for Poland last week.

Mamyrov denied he had written the testimony presented as his. "I did not write any statement. This statement is a forgery," he said in televized comments late Tuesday.

Mamyrov, who has been dismissed as the airport security chief, said he was "temporarily hiding because the interests of different political forces are involved in this and I was caught between them."

Despite Janybek Bakiyev's claim that he was not involved, his brother accepted his resignation, dismissing him from his position as first deputy chief of the National Security Service, the president's office said. Tabyldiyev had said on Tuesday that Janybek Bakiyev was "ordered to resign."

President Bakiyev also accepted Tabyldiyev's resignation and replaced him with a former deputy, Elmurza Satyboldiyev.

Tekebayev was forced to step down from the parliament speaker's post in February after saying President Bakiyev should "hang himself," but he kept his parliament seat and leads the Ata-Meken party, considered the strongest force in opposition to the president and his backers.

Addressing supporters at a demonstration on Tuesday, Tekebayev said he believed "Bakiyev's family" was responsible for the heroin that Polish officials said they found in his baggage.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev was elected after the March 2005 ouster of long-time president Askar Akayev by opposition protesters. One of his other brothers is ambassador to Germany, and a son is an adviser to the intelligence chief.

Source: China Daily