Uzbekistan: employees of hokimiyats were detained while receiving large bribes
Officials of one of the regional hokimiyats in Tashkent and an unnamed city administration in Tashkent region were detained while receiving $ 35,000 and $ 4,500, respectively. Another case occurred in Bostanlyk, where a previously convicted citizen extorted $ 160,000 for registration of a land plot.
Operational measures were carried out by the Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the Prosecutor General’s Office and the State Security Service.
In the capital, an employee of the district administration guaranteed the entrepreneur for $ 325,000 to arrange the decision of the mayor of the city to allocate 16 acres of land. Each hundred square meters were estimated at $ 22,000. The deal fell through upon receiving $ 35,000 of the agreed amount, when the detention took place.
In Tashkent region, a representative of the city hokimiyat promised the assistance in allocating 15 acres of land in the city for $ 15,000. He was detained while receiving $ 4,500.
When receiving $ 80,000, a former convict was also detained. Through his friends in the regional hokimiyat, he intended to obtain registration of land in the village of Khodjikent in Bostanlyk district. A person, who has four previous convictions, demanded $ 160,000.
As ACCA previously wrote, the Anti-Corruption Agency reported on the detention of seven heads of district and city administrations on suspicion of corruption during nine months of this year. The news was presented as evidence of the fight against large-scale embezzlement from the budget, for which 647 minor officials have already been prosecuted and 191 cases are under investigation.
The authorities don’t explain in any way the hiding of the names of high-ranking corrupt officials. On the other hand, Uzbek readers were puzzled by an unusually detailed list of petty corrupt officials published on the local online media. It was told in detail who exactly – former inspectors of the Bureau of the Execution of Sentences – took from 5-10-30 to 100 US dollars (the equivalent of the national currency).
It is known about the legislative initiative of the Civil Service Development Agency under the President, which, in fact, will not eradicate corruption in the bureaucratic class of the country and is unlikely to raise the level of public administration. This conclusion can be reached from the results of another press conference at the Ministry of Justice on the draft law “On the State Civil Service”.
