Switzerland to hand Uzbekistan $182 mn seized from Karimova

Switzerland on Thursday signed an agreement with Uzbekistan to hand over a further $182 million seized during criminal proceedings against Gulnara Karimova, the jailed daughter of late Uzbek leader Islam Karimov.

Karimova was indicted by Switzerland last year in a vast case involving corruption, fraud and organised crime stretching over many years.

Switzerland froze around 800 million Swiss francs ($842 million) in 2012 in connection with the criminal proceedings against Karimova.

Uzbek Justice Minister Akbar Tashkulov and Swiss Ambassador Konstantin Obolensky agreed at a meeting in Tashkent that around $182 million “illegally acquired by certain citizens of Uzbekistan” will be returned, the justice ministry said.

The new agreement takes the total amount due to be returned to Uzbekistan through a United Nations fund to $313 million, after Switzerland agreed in 2022 on the return of around $131 million.

Tashkent said the money will be used to benefit the population, focusing on health and education.

Uzbekistan has claimed back more than one billion dollars from various countries, including France and the United States, since Karimova was imprisoned in 2017.

Once a prominent socialite, fashion designer and singer, Karimova was imprisoned following the 2016 death of her father, who ruled the Central Asian country with an iron hand for a quarter of a century.

In 2017, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison on fraud and money laundering charges, later reduced to five years of house arrest.

Then in 2020, Uzbekistan said she had been sentenced to a further 13 years in prison for extortion and embezzlement.

The current president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has cast himself as a reformer since taking office, pledging to open up his country of around 35 million people after years of isolation.

But rights groups say that Uzbekistan remains deeply authoritarian, despite attracting new Western investment.