Tajikistan: more than two thousand corruption crimes were detected during the year

“Most cases of corruption in Tajikistan in 2021 were committed by officials of local governments, followed by employees of the banking sector and the land management system,” Sulaimon Sultonzoda, director of the State Financial Control and Anti-Corruption Agency of Tajikistan, said at a press conference on February 2.

In total, according to Sultonzoda, over 2,000 corruption offenses were detected in Tajikistan last year, of which 885 were classified as serious crimes.

The head of the department said that over the past year, about 1.5 thousand administrative corruption violations were also revealed, and fines were imposed in the amount of 1.7 million somoni.

However, experts believe that the identified crimes and offenses don’t at all reflect the real picture of corruption in the country, which, according to experts from the international organization Transparency International, is ‘deeply systemic’.

“Most people in Tajikistan believe that bribery, embezzlement of public funds and the government’s failure to eradicate corruption, nepotism and other problems have become commonplace in the country,” these are the conclusions of this organization, stated in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2021 report. The authors of the study ranked Tajikistan in 150^th place among 180 countries of the world. For the fourth year, this organization includes Tajikistan in the top thirty countries with the highest level of corruption.

“Corruption accompanies the citizens of Tajikistan from birth, when you have to pay everyone: from the nurse on duty to the doctors who took birth, and up to death, when for a ‘good’ place in the cemetery you also need to give a kickback,” says Abdullo Samiyev, Tajik expert. “Citizens have already become accustomed to the fact that it’s easier to give a bribe than to stand in lines or run from office to office.”

Last year, when borders between states were closed during the pandemic, Tajik border guards, customs officers and other officials on duty at checkpoints were on everyone’s lips. Almost everyone in Tajikistan spoke and knew that they took bribes from every passing or passing across the border, but during all this time only a few people were dismissed from their positions, including the head of the checkpoint “Fotehabad” and two of his deputies.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has already developed a system of illegal fees for providing certificates of non-conviction, for passing exams in the State Motor Vehicle Inspectorate, obtaining cool numbers, passing technical inspections, issuing passports, but no adequate measures are being taken to restore order in these structures.

The Anti-Corruption Agency didn’t react at all to such high-profile publications in the Tajik media last year, such as a journalistic investigation into the activities of the Air Communications Agency (owned by the daughter of the President of the country, Takhmina Rakhmonova) “Sale of air tickets: who is the money going to?” or “Closed sky. Who is behind the collapse of Tajik Air, and who benefits from it?”, which stated that Tajik Air was deliberately bankrupted in order to clear the way for Somon Air (a company associated with Hassan Asadullozoda, the President’s brother-in-law).

According to the statistics of the Anti-Corruption Agency, in 2021, facts of corruption were revealed on the part of officials of local governments – 281, the banking sector – 157, the land management system – 149, education and science – 139, energy supply organizations – 101, internal affairs bodies – 69, judicial authorities – 23.

The financial damage from such actions amounted to more than 353 million somoni, of which 324 million (92%) were returned to the budget.