Former Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev has been taken into custody in the Central Asian country’s capital, Bishkek, by officials from the Kyrgyz Security Services in connection with a corruption probe into the large Kumtor gold mine.

Ex-President Akayev’s avuncular mien, academic air and philosophical discourses made him stand out from other post-Soviet leaders in Central Asia during the 1990s. He served from 1991-2005 when he was deposed in a comic-opera style coup. He had previously been lauded by Western countries as a democratic outlier in a region of despots and strongmen. After the so-called “Tulip Revolution”, in which just an estimated 100 or so mostly young men were able to take over two government buildings, he left power.

His replacement, now also ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, won 2005 elections to replace Akayev, a mathematician by profession. Bakiyev was also overthrown in a 2010 “revolution” and is also currently wanted on charges related to the Kumtor gold project as well. Reports had him last living in Belarus though this is impossible to verify.

The 76-year-old Akayev was reportedly living in Moscow. It was immediately clear how he was transferred to his home country or under what circumstances he was brought to Kyrgyzstan.

The State Committee for National Security merely said he was being detained as part of a criminal investigation into corruption in the Kumtor project, hauled him in for questioning.

Kumtor is one of the world’s biggest gold mines, and metals analysts place it as high as second in the world in terms of output and volume. It is by far the otherwise largely poor, mountainous country’s biggest cash cow.

Akayev, along with other former high-ranking officials, is being prosecuted for corruption in connection to affairs between Kumtor, in which the government holds a majority stake, and Canadian gold mining companies.

Local press quoted security officials as saying Akayev is in the building of the State Committee for National Security.