Multi-million assets of Gulnara Karimova to be returned to Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan and Switzerland signed an agreement on return to Tashkent of $131 million from the assets of the eldest daughter of the late President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, Gulnara Karimova, which have been in Swiss banks since 2012. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan reports.
The agreements are the result of many rounds of negotiations over the past two years between the Ministry of Justice and the competent departments of Uzbekistan, on the one hand, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and interested Swiss ministries with the participation of the UN, on the other.
The parties agreed that the funds will be transferred to education and health care sectors.
The Swiss Government noted that the restitution will have a positive impact on bilateral relations, and is also an important contribution to the implementation of the 2030 sustainable development agenda.
Gulnara Karimova is serving a long prison term in Uzbekistan for embezzlement and extortion. In August 2015, she was found guilty of extortion and tax evasion, and on December 18, 2017, within another case, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In March 2020, the Tashkent City Criminal Court increased Gulnara Karimova’s prison term to 13 years and four months within a new criminal case on creation of a criminal association, extortion and embezzlement.
