Uzbekistan and Switzerland signed an agreement in Bern on returning to Tashkent $131 million of the assets of the eldest daughter of the late Uzbek president Gulnara Karimova, which have been in Swiss banks since 2012. August, by the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan.

The document was signed by the head of the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan, Ruslanbek Davletov, and the President of Switzerland, Ignazio Cassis. The ceremony was attended by the Executive Coordinator of the Office of the United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund, Jennifer Topping.

The agreements are the result of careful work and many rounds of negotiations over the past two years between the Ministry of Justice and the relevant departments in Uzbekistan, on the one hand, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and interested Swiss ministries, with the participation of the UN, on the other.

Funds go to social needs

The parties agreed that the funds will be allocated to education and health.

The signing of the agreement is a significant step towards “building friendly and mutually beneficial relations between Uzbekistan and Switzerland”, the Ministry of Justice said.

The Swiss government, in turn, highlighted that the restitution will have a positive impact on bilateral relations, being also an important contribution to the implementation of the sustainable development agenda for the period until 2030.

We are talking about a total value of almost CHF 800 million, which was frozen by the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office in 2012. About US$131 million of this amount was confiscated in 2019. These funds are now subject to return to Uzbekistan.

Karimova is serving long term

Gulnara Karimova is serving a long term in Uzbekistan for embezzlement and extortion cases.

In August 2015, Karimova was found guilty of extortion and tax evasion, and on December 18, 2017, in another case, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In December 2017, the US Treasury Department added Gulnara Karimova to the sanctions list under the “Global Magnitsky Act”. According to the US Treasury Department, Karimova “led a powerful organized crime syndicate that involved state actors in business expropriation, monopolized markets and extortion.”

In March 2020, the Tashkent City Criminal Court increased Karimova’s prison term to 13 years and four months in a new criminal case concerning the creation of a criminal community, extortion and embezzlement.