The Anti-Corruption Agency of Tajikistan revealed in the first half of 2022 37 facts of appointments in state bodies on the grounds of nepotism. This was announced on July 18 at a press conference by the director of the anti-corruption agency Sulaimon Sultonzoda.
According to him, most of these cases were detected in two specialized social departments – the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. Isolated cases of nepotism were identified in the Ministry of Culture and the Committee for Construction and Architecture.
It was reported that school directors hired their children, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law, similar facts were revealed in medical institutions, the heads of which appointed personnel on the basis of nepotism.
Experts, on the other hand, believe that the facts of nepotism are widespread not only in state institutions, but also “at the very top”, but few people dare to talk about it out loud. In their opinion, Tajikistan is a classic example of family government: key positions in the highest bodies of legislative and executive power are concentrated in the hands of the main family (President Rahmon has 9 children – 2 sons and 7 daughters).
The president’s eldest son, Rustam Emomali, is both the speaker of the upper house of parliament and the mayor of Dushanbe, before that he headed the customs committee and the anti-corruption agency; the eldest daughter of the president, Ozoda Rahmon, has been the head of the presidential staff since 2016 (her husband, Jamoliddin Nuraliyev, was the first deputy chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan for seven years, was removed from his post in June 2022 due to a transfer to another job); another daughter of Rukhshon Emomali has been the Deputy Head of the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan since 2017, and since December 2021 – the Ambassador of Tajikistan to the UK. Another son-in-law of the president, Shamsullo Sohibov, heads the Faroz business empire, which controls oil, raw materials production, customs terminals, ski resorts, medical laboratories, driving schools, and much more. The president’s brother-in-law Hasan Asadullozoda is the chairman of the board of the country’s largest Orienbank – according to some reports, he owns dozens of factories, real estate firms, and a chain of restaurants. Another son-in-law of the president, Ashraf Gulov, was appointed Tajik ambassador to Turkey in July. The nephew of the head of state, Islomiddin Rahmon, is the chairman of the administration of the Dangara region, the homeland of the president.
