Abzal walks up to me and salutes, “President Karabars, I have a list of all of the civil servants currently awaiting trial in our jails. I can revoke all of their diplomatic passports by intervening in the Dalabistani passport database so that not a single piece of corrupt shit can leave the country.”
“Please do it as soon as possible, General. Thank you very much.” There is so much work to be done. After I bid farewell to Abzal, Mr. Kimmelman comes to me and asks, “Do you have to go now?”
“Yeah, but would you like to walk with me to the Headquarters?”
“Sorry, I have to go as well, have a good one, Mr. President,” chuckles Mr. Kimmelman as he goes away.
“I’ll go with you, bro,” Bong Ju says and pats my shoulder.
Chapter 15: The Housewarming
The Dalab Eli square is still stained with blood, although most of the corpses slain yesterday at the square were buried or cremated already. I open the large wooden doors to get inside. Surprisingly, there are few bodies left in the Grand Hall, although I can still see the visible marks, shards, and holes in the walls from yesterday’s combat. There are several empty bottles of beer and vodka lying on the floor. I guess they are from yesterday’s celebrations after the Revolution finished. The golden statue of Volkan Babayev that used to stand in the center of the Headquarters’ lobby is crushed. Maybe I should preserve this room as it is as a reminder of tyranny’s rise, peak, and downfall to our people?
Meanwhile, maintenance workers take the remains of golden Volkan with their cranes and carry them away from the building. When the workers see me pass by, they stop working and take off their hats, “Welcome, our Liberator, President Alisher Karabars!”
“We have destroyed the Babayevs’ regime together, after all!”
“Thank you, President Karabars!” the workers exclaim with joy. I am going upstairs with Bong Ju. He asks as I go up, “Bro, can I ask you one question?”
“Sure, Bong Ju.”
“Since you became the President of Dalabistan, who is going to look after the Karabars & Kim Industries?”
I smile. “You, bro. Our shares are the same as they were before, though. I was so busy with this Revolution that it made me forget almost everything.”
“It’s alright, man. I wish you great success in this, like in Dreamhouse and Karabars & Kim Industries. See you later, then! Call me when you need diplomatic stuff with the United States or South Korea, I can help you with these countries.”
“Thank you very much, bro. I can always rely on you.”
Bong Ju walks away and catches a quick taxi to go to the airport. As we walk on the staircase to the Oval Room, the main room where I will do most of my work, I pass by a few bodies lying around, still soaked in their blood. I pass by many of the martyrs, frozen and staring at me with their eyes wide shut, eyes wide open, and eyes wide popped out. I slowly reach a familiar body of a young girl with pigtails dressed in a white blouse stained and drenched in blood.
Zuhra.
Her corpse is lying still since she laid yesterday during the Revolution when she told me her last words. I could only imagine Elena trembling, collapsing onto the floor, burying her face in her hands, and starting to weep uncontrollably while lying next to Zuhra’s cold corpse. Why did I even enable Zuhra, the more-innocent sister of Elena, to die? Why did the bullets hit Zuhra, not me or even Elena, for fuck’s sake? Unlike Elena, Zuhra did not do any harm to me. That doesn’t mean Zuhra did many good things to me either, but that may be the true definition of innocence. I honestly do not know what I even could say to a grieving Elena.
Thank God I am not involved in this dirty job; I will let Sabit tell Zuhra’s last words to Elena instead. I don’t think I want to have any business anymore with Elena, who sold my trust and her values for some Elite Tribesman’s cock. Given the situation, I doubt I would ever see her anymore. She may see me smiling after my victory, though from her TV screen, and damn that very day she decided to date, kiss, and fuck that entitled Elite Tribe member Erzhan instead of me. But that whore missed her chance already—that bitch ain’t coming back to my life any time soon. She may be already back in Dalabistan for Zuhra’s funeral, but I will not see her. I am definitely not going to fulfill my promise to Zuhra—may Elena feel how it feels like when your trust and promises get broken during your most vulnerable times!
I enter the Oval Room, and Sabit waits for me here. This room has a wide brown table with various computers and other necessary equipment for ruling the nation. Sabit hands me five sheets of paper in ornate blue folders and declares, “As you have requested, while you were talking and meeting up with your friends, I prepared these presidential decrees for you.” The first decree is about the dismissal of the Anar Babayev’s government and the State of Emergency:
With this Presidential Decree, I dismiss all of the ministers, judges, mayors, governors, members of the Parliament, and the government apparatus of Anar Babayev’s government from their office. Anar Volkanuly Babayev is declared as the former head of the state who lost his presidency, which would limit his powers to those of a common citizen in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Dalabistan. All of the members in the Armed Forces, police, Dalabistani KGB, and the Hovlyk Asker are ordered to defend the Republic of Dalabistan and its citizens, to protect the rule of law, and to obey the new Commander-in-Chief, Alisher Kaisaruly Karabars.
I declare the State of Emergency until the Presidential and Parliamentary elections four years from this year. The Babayev-era government will be temporarily replaced with the Rebuilding Council as a transitional government.
I appoint the following individuals into the Rebuilding Council:
● Abzal Kylyshbayev as the Minister of Defence
● Dmitriy Volkov as the Minister of Justice
● Alexandr Kuzmenko as the Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau
● Sabit Ahmetov as the Minister of Education and Science
● Almat Omarov as the Minister of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry
This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication.
President of the Republic of Dalabistan A. K. Karabars
The second one is about the transparency of the government:
This Decree states that all of the bank accounts and transaction history of all public servants shall be displayed on the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s website so that every Dalabistani citizen would be able to see and to hold the citizens’ government workers accountable.
This Decree eliminates the immunity of judges, members of the Parliament, President, Babayev family, ministers, mayors, governors-general, and governors before law.
Starting from today, all Babayev government’s civil servants are put on trial to examine each one on charges of corruption, theft of resources, treason, mass murder of innocent civilians, terror acts, and intentional hindering of Dalabistan’s progress.
All of the political opposition parties that were declared to be ‘extremist’ by the Babayev regime are rehabilitated and re-legalized. This includes formerly banned oppositionist parties such as Aibek Ospanov’s Liberty Party. All of the political prisoners that were detained by the Babayevs regime are obligated to be rehabilitated, liberated and should receive monetary compensation. This does not apply to members of the organizations designated as terrorist entities by the United Nations Security Council.
This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication.
President of the Republic of Dalabistan A. K. Karabars
The third one what I call the “Equal Rights Bill”:
With this Decree, I nullify all the parts of the Bills, Penal Code articles, Decrees, and Constitution articles involving legal discrimination based on tribal origin, gender, and political beliefs. The legal segregation and inequality of the Three Elite Tribes and the Fourteen Commoners Tribes before the law, in terms of eligibility to run the President and hold executive offices in busine
sses and government occupations, and in terms of getting promoted in military ranks are all abolished with this Equal Rights Bill.
This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication.
President of the Republic of Dalabistan A. K. Karabars
The fourth bill is about the death penalty. This will make the justice work better in Dalabistan:
In order to tame and to suppress crime, corruption, and murder, as well as to preserve the safety of our country and to maintain the transparency of the government, I hereby decree that I impose the death penalty for the following charges:
● Corruption
● Murder
● Terrorist attacks
● Falsifying elections
● Abuse of power
● Bribery
● Rape
● Pedophilia
● Kidnapping
● Unlawful deprivation of liberty
● Human trafficking
● Theft of government resources for private gain
The death penalty is carried out through hanging, decapitation, crushing, or lethal injection. The method of carrying out the capital punishment is chosen by the judge or the President in every case.
This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication.
President of the Republic of Dalabistan A. K. Karabars
The fifth and the last one is about setting up the Anti-Corruption Bureau:
With this Presidential Decree, I declare to form the Anti-Corruption Bureau and appoint Alexandr Kuzmenko as the Director. The purpose of this bureau is to use any means possible to prevent corruption from causing great damage to the Republic of Dalabistan.
The Director or any special investigator may without a warrant arrest any person who has been concerned in any corruption-related offence or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned. The Director or a special investigator arresting a person may search such a person and take possession of all articles found upon him if there is a reason to believe that these articles were the fruits or other evidence of the crime, provided that no female shall be searched except by a female. Every person so arrested shall be taken to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau or to a police station.
Every relevant officer of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau shall be provided with such staves, arms, ammunition, and other accoutrements as may be necessary for the effective discharge of his duties.
Any person who:
● refuses the Director or any officer authorized to enter or search, access to any place;
● assaults obstructs, hinders or delays him in effecting any entrance which he is entitled to effect under this Act, or in the execution of any duty imposed or power conferred by this Act;
● fails to comply with any lawful demands of the Director or any officer in the execution of his duties under this Act; or
● refuses or neglects to give any information which may reasonably be required of him and which he has it in his power to give,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 1,000 MCI (Monthly Calculation Index) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or both.
This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication.
President of the Republic of Dalabistan A. K. Karabars
I sign these decrees and stamp all of them with a stamp of the engraved Seal of Dalabistan. The Seal consists of a snow leopard and a winged horse holding a shield with seventeen stars representing the tribes, on top of which the eagle sits with its wings spread wide. Now it’s time to move my suitcases to the Den Room, my home for the foreseeable future. It is the President’s private living quarters that has a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom for the President and his family.
First night as the President, and already five decrees signed. It’s a good start, but there is still much to do.
Chapter 16: First Actions
I wake up to my second day as the President and the first day of the State of Emergency. May 22, 2014. This allows me to do whatever needs to be done and to pass laws without the approval of Parliament. It makes it easy and streamlined, no need to let the process get bogged down by bureaucratic bullshit. It’s time to finally implement my plans I have longed for. I rush to the Rebuilding Council’s command room to finish setting up the system for all civil servants.
Abzal is already in the room and firmly shakes my hand, “Good morning, Mr. President!”
“Good morning, General. How are you feeling?”
“I’m very relieved that the process of setting up the system is almost finished! A team of programmers and I already got all of the information of Babayev-era civil servants. We know their banking accounts and how they have spent the taxpayers’ money over the last thirty-four years as of now.”
“I would bet half of my company’s stocks that they spent it on vacations and luxuries in offshores and Europe.”
Abzal replies, “Well, you are partially right, Alisher. They did embezzle the state budget funds for villas, yachts, luxury cars, etc. However, you would be horrified by the scale of corruption and plundering that the former Dalabistan’s government did. I myself didn't even realize the entire extent of the embezzlement until we hacked their accounts. Here, just look at Anar Babayev’s bank statements and transaction histories.” He turns on a large white all-in-one computer and shows me the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s website’s service of “Transparent Civil Servants.”
I sit in the chair while Abzal gets his wireless mouse and clicks the white box saying, “See Anar Babayev’s accounts and transactions of government money.” The website page takes around one minute to load. When it loads, Abzal’s words start to make sense to me. One of the programmers, a short man with a black moustache and thick black glasses, laughs while I am waiting to finally see the page, “I think he will throw up with all of his shock on this table, let’s get some tissues ready in advance.”
The website made a bell chime and a yellow box appeared on the screen saying “Data Retrieved for Anar Babayev, the Second President of Dalabistan. See bank transactions for 2013.” The website later shows the following list of items that Anar Babayev has accumulated in the last year:
● $900,000,000 of cash transferred to his own UBS bank account, Switzerland
● $9,000,000,000 of cash transferred to his own bank account in Panama
● 20-hectare castle in Nice, France—$9,150,000
● 200 Mercedes Benz S500 luxury sedans—$20,000,000
● 100 Mercedes-Benz G 350 BlueTEC—$11,280,000
● 10 Bugatti Veyron sport cars—$15,000,000
● 5 Lamborghini Murcielago sport cars—$7,500,000
● Pelorus yacht—$300,000,000
● 2,500 bottles of Hennessy cognac—$80,000
● 2,500 bottles of Dom Pérignon champagne—$1,500,000
● Mansion in Beverly Hills, California, United States—$50,000,000
● Villa in London, United Kingdom—$10,000,000
● 5 Private Gulfstream G650 jets—$330,000,000
● Private Boeing 787-9 as Air Force One—$292,500,000 ($800,000,000 with customization)
● 10 country chalets in Switzerland—$37,500,000
● 25-room estate on the outskirts of Volkan, Dalabistan—$38,000,000 ($75,000,000 with decorating)
● Summer palace in Mykonos, Greece—$100,000,000
I exclaim, “Goodness… sounds like excellent evidence to use against Anar in the trial! What about other Members of the Parliament, judges, ministers, and officials?”
“They are on this website as well. Same story as with Anar.”
“Thank you very much, General, now let’s make this public right now and make everyone see the truth!”
I grab my laptop and quickly jot
down my next presidential decree. Two minutes later, I print it, stamp it with the Seal of Dalabistan, and sign it. The text reads:
With this Presidential Decree, I order that the civil servants and military personnel suspected of using the government funds for private purposes, theft, and bribes shall be arrested and tried for corruption, larceny (grand and regular sizes), and abuse of power.
The suspecting evidence is available through the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s website’s service ‘Transparent Civil Servants’ that displays all the civil servants’ transactions and bank statements.
The individuals in question are to be temporarily suspended, placed on leave, pending formal investigation and are not allowed to serve in the military or the government until the final verdict of the trial.
This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication.
President of the Republic of Dalabistan A. K. Karabars
My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn’t yet eaten—perfect time to get some lunch. While I am getting out of Presidential Headquarters to get a turkey and cheese sandwich somewhere on the Dalab Eli square, I come across many men and women in suits, wearing badges with Volkan Babayev and Anar Babayev, rushing to the Parliament building. It is a large marble building with golden domes on top of it right across the Dalab Eli square. What are these people doing out there if I ousted the Parliament yesterday?
I call a fellow policeman armed with an assault rifle, and we enter the discussion hall of the Parliament with half of the ousted MPs present in the room. I am met with scornful looks from the entire discussion hall.
A slim woman with black hair in glasses sitting in her MP seat remarks with clear disgust on her face, “Oh, there is that Chamyr piece of shit that is trying to kick us out from our rightful place in this country!”
The Outcast Presidents Page 14
