An Update on Oasis Agro, Corruption in Kyrgyzstan
Pictured: An Oasis Agro employee working in the feed mill.
Over the past few months, we’ve shared tough updates surrounding one of our most established ag partners, Oasis Agro in Central Asia.
Rivals are using dirty tactics, vandalism and break-ins, and even leveraging the halls of government against Oasis Agro and illegal taxes and fines are threatening our work in the region.
Thanks to all of you who’ve donated, prayed, and followed along as we support our friends in Kyrgyzstan as they serve thousands of farmers across the region. Here’s an update from our board chair, Kevin Stark:
”One of the biggest developments was our decision to go by way of the Kyrgyz court system vs trying for arbitration. This was decided for two reasons:
1. To draw attention to the issues with the tax situation in Kyrgyzstan 2. We believe time is on our side. A more drawn-out process gives us time to take the right steps and, hopefully, find the right people to help advocate for us.
The truth is, any of this could change as the situation seems to be constantly shifting on a weekly, even daily, basis. We move forward in faith, trusting that God is above and beyond anything we might face.”
Pictured: Freshly-made Oasis Agro feed just before it’s picked up by a farmer.
The silver lining in all this…
is that all of this unjust adversity has forced Oasis Agro, a major C Fund portfolio partner and one of our oldest partnerships, to audit, refine, and improve their business in several ways:
The Oasis Agro team is undergoing changes as new people are hired and others take their leave, and this has allowed leadership to reposition the business in line with historic core values. One employee was caught embezzling funds between August and December of last year, and leadership is now conducting an internal audit to find out if anyone else was involved. Local police are also involved.
Refinement is happening in day-to-day operations as leadership cuts distractions and selling non-critical assets, choosing to focus on our core competencies / ministry priorities and to pay down debts.
The dispute over the unjust tax suddenly levied against Oasis Agro is ongoing with a 3rd appeal pending the tax department and a court case due to begin on 25 January (prayers appreciated!). We have drafted an official appeal to the President to intervene in our case. Please pray he will take notice of our work and appreciate the essential food services we’ve given to the nation over the past 15 years.
Thanks to each of you for reading and supporting as we take these steps. We remain grateful for so many years of impact and hopeful for the future of this business and the ripple-effects of Good your giving will continue to have for countless communities in these communities we love.