The Uzbek media spread a message that the head of Andijan and some officials are suspected of embezzling budget funds on an especially large scale.
The story of a high-ranking corrupt official has been going on for more than a year. In February 2022, the Prosecutor’s Office of Andijan region submitted a proposal to the kengash (council) of deputies to deprive Andijan’s hokim Bakhromjon Khaydarov of parliamentary immunity.
The legislation provides for depriving a deputy of immunity by the council of people’s deputies on the proposal of the prosecutor of the region, district, city, or a higher prosecutor within 10 days. And only on May 28, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the hokim ceased to be the deputy, and a criminal case was initiated.
“Usually, the President quickly resolves personnel issues. Thanks to the very influential support, the hokim of Andijan holds on to his post to the last,” the ACCA expert notes. “The tangle of corruption crimes is just beginning to unwind; the thread can lead to a patron in the highest echelons of power.”
Hokim is being held accountable for financial crimes committed during his tenure as head of the Finance Department of Andijan region from 2017 to October 2019. The Department for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption under the Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating a criminal case against the officials of the Department of Public Education of Andijan city and other persons under Article 167 (“Theft by misappropriation or embezzlement”) of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan.
In particular, from November 2018 to November 2020, fake certificates and payment orders for monthly salaries connected to UzAsbo software complex were used, as a result of which $5,253,000 in sums equivalent was stolen.
In 2017-2019, Bahrom Heydarov illegally allocated another 14 billion sums to the City Public Education Department to compensate the pre-allocated 9 billion. Being the head of the Regional Department of Finance, he didn’t make a single social payment in the amount of 6.8 billion sums. 32 citizens have already been sentenced to imprisonment, 2 people – to house arrest. Three others were released on bail. Of the 48.5 billion sums, only 11.2 billion sums (23.1%) have been reimbursed so far.
The scope of Khaydarov’s corrupt activities, already as head of the city, is now being clarified. There is already evidence of damage to state interests in the amount of more than $160,000 as a result of violation of the law during allotment of land.
As ACCA previously wrote, in May 2021, the City Council’s deputies already criticized the city’s hokim, accusing him of illegal land use. According to the media, deputy Shukhratbek Karimov also sent a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office, taking into account a series of reports by local journalist Khurshid Daliyev about illegal land allocation and construction work in Andijan.
According to the deputy, violations of the law were also confirmed by the City Department of Justice. He disputed the qualifications of regional prosecutors due to their inaction on these issues and asked for a public assessment of the employees of the Prosecutor’s Office of Andijan.
As a result, the deputy was deprived of immunity on the basis of a criminal case against the company where he was the founder, and then taken into custody. The Anti-Corruption Agency and the public then came out in support of the MP.
