Uzbekistan: another official was detained while receiving a bribe
On June 25, upon receiving $50 000, the head of the administration department of Chilanzar district of Tashkent was detained. He was caught in the act by the employees of the State Security Service.
A widespread message notes that the bribe was intended for assistance in the registration of the plot of land. It is reported that a civil servant promised the entrepreneur to formalize ownership of the land area of 1 hectare for $1.4 million.
A criminal case has been opened against the detainee under article 210 (Taking a bribe) of the Criminal Code.
According to an ACCA expert, in this case, the real seller of the land has kept out of the affair.
“In vain, the State Security Service takes credit for detaining a bribe taker, because the official status of civil servant doesn’t allow him to engage in the sale of land,” the expert notes. “They simply used the scheme of many years, when they detain a middleman between a possible purchaser of the land and the district’s hokim.”
Earlier, ACCA wrote that in Kibray district of Tashkent region, the deputy hokim (the head of the investment and foreign trade department) Jamshid Mashrapov was detained while receiving a bribe of $25 000. The official promised to sell 10 hectares of unused land for $60 000. A criminal case has been instituted on this fact under articles 168 (Fraud) and 211 through article 28 (Complicity in giving a bribe). It is explained why the case was instituted specifically under these articles, and it is the issue of giving and not receiving a bribe. The hokim deputies are not authorized to give land, therefore the case is qualified under article 211 through article 28, that is, complicity in giving a bribe to another authorized person. Prior to this, an accomplice of the deputy head of the district administration was detained red-handed. He is accused of facilitating a deal to sell 1 hectare of land for $100 000.
