New criminal case was opened against Gulnara Karimova

It became known about the change in the location of Gulnara Karimova, which is kept secret. This was announced on Twitter by Swiss lawyer Grégoire Mangeat. According to him, on September 16 a trial was in a new case against his client.

The Yashnabad district court of Tashkent did not organize the usual preparations before the hearing; the defendant was brought unexpectedly. At the court session, in the absence of a lawyer, the issue of the measure of restraint for Gulnara Karimova was once again considered. According to her lawyer, after the hearing the defendant was taken away in an unknown direction.

According to observers in Uzbekistan, the hurry is associated with unsatisfactory unofficial negotiations between Tashkent and international partners. Gulnara, together with unnamed like-minded people, persists in haggling for the return of part of the Swiss assets worth 800 million francs received in the course of corruption actions by the daughter of former President Karimov. A new criminal case, the details of which are still unknown, may force Gulnara to become more compliant.

Iman Karimova urgently spoke in defense of her mother. She tried to scare the Uzbek authorities with the publication of discreditable materials. A small part of compromising material in the near future, as Iman assures, will be sent to Anti-Corruption structures and international organizations. Iman is sure that “the main reason why the authorities opened a new case against her mother is fear. Fear of her and the information that she owns and has transferred just in case to safe locations. Fear of revealing facts about people who are in government and outside, fear of the people for a huge number of facts that are carefully concealed”.

Ferghana.ru agency director general Daniil Kislov doubts about the effectiveness of the threats. “What is so terrible she can do? Denigrate the President?” Kislov asks. “I think that Iman probably has no compromising materials on Shavkat Mirziyoev. Because the people of Mirziyoev have been cleaned up all for a long time. In addition, the current President has an excellent trump card: if his signature is found somewhere, he can always say that he could not do anything, Islam Karimov threw ashtrays, and Gulnara was allowed everything, even more, they manipulated us as they wanted; we were pawns in this game of the dictator and his family!”

Two months ago, political emigrant Alisher Taksanov sent a request to the Swiss Foreign Ministry to clarify the fate of the frozen assets. The answer said that “a year ago, the Federal Council decided to pay Uzbekistan the full amount (up to 800 million Swiss francs) of assets that were finally collected in this case (after deducting legal costs and any fines). After consultation with the competent authorities, two agreements will be concluded: one will establish the principle of returning the entire amount to Uzbekistan; another will regulate the terms of the return (as part of the Swiss strategy for asset recovery, return and repatriation with the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). This is done so that the funds are returned in a transparent manner, benefit the population or the development of the country and not return to illegal recipients”.

The new criminal case is now perceived as a decisive step by the government of Uzbekistan in the return of assets that will automatically be regarded as investments in the country’s economy.