Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov ordered the Prime Minister to suspend Minister of Transport Jamshitbek Kalilov after his deputy was caught red-handed taking bribery, Kyrgyz media reported.

It was announced during the Security Council meeting held on Friday.

“What a shame,” President said commenting on the bribery scandal. “If I were you, I would immediately step down. $500,000 is a lot of money,” Jeenbekov said addressing to Kalilov.

“Everyone must be held accountable. Prime Minister must suspend him, but he is sitting here, in the Security Council meeting. What a shame!” the Kyrgyz President exclaimed.

On December 5, Deputy Transport Minister Azimkan Jusubaliyev was arrested red-handed while taking $50,000 in bribe from a foreign company, whose name was not made public, in exchange for lobbying the company’s interest in the tender for construction of the CAREC 1 and 3 road sections.

According to the National Security Committee, the detainee has previously received $120,000 from the company through the intermediaries, who were his relatives. He was supposed to get in total of $520,000 from the foreign company.