Uzbekistan: Judge was detained while taking bribe

The judge of the arbitration company was caught red-handed by employees of the State Security Service while receiving a bribe of $2,500.

According to the Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the Prosecutor General’s Office, the judge of the international arbitration of the capital company H.A. demanded $4000.

The judge, unnamed in the message, set a price for making a decision through his high-ranking acquaintances in favor of the defendant. He also ensured that the court’s verdict wouldn’t be reversed in the future. A criminal case has been initiated under Articles 168 (“Fraud”), 28 (“Types of accomplices in crime”) and 211 (“Bribery”) of the Criminal Code. The investigative measures are being carried out.

As blogger Nikita Makarenko notes, the company H.A., encrypted in the press release, means Halkaro Arbitration. Previously, it participated in the case when black realtors tried to take away an apartment from a disabled person.

“There is a clear feeling that for some reason the judge was handed over by his accomplices,” the ACCA expert comments. “A very modest amount of a bribe in the conditions of commercial arbitration, and the scheme for safely receiving bribes has been worked out for decades.”

The group “Tashkent Demolition” published an analysis of the judges of the Supreme Court who made deliberately illegal decisions. In the list of 20 persons, only in two cases, ten judges’ cover was blown; they perceived justice separately from the Constitution and the laws of the country. In particular, some were involved in lawsuits against well-known construction companies that violated the rights of citizens during the demolition of houses.

ACCA previously wrote about how, in November 2020, the State Security Service opened a criminal case against a 44-year-old assistant to the Chairman of the Supreme Court under Article 120 of the Criminal Code (“Sodomy”).

The reason for the homosexual scandal at first was the complaint of the assistant to the blackmailer who extorted $17,000. The leadership of the Supreme Court turned to the special services for help, which detained the attacker.

As a rule, bribe-takers are not above the average level of the judicial system.

According to the expert, during the reign of Mirziyoyev, the judicial system has acquired a difference from Karimov’s: since 2020, judges have been considering cases in gowns.