Gulnara Karimova starred in pop music videos under the pseudonym “Googoosha”, managed a jewelry company and was the ambassador to Spain. She was long considered the heir apparent to her father, Islam Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic, from 1989 until his death in 2016. But then, in 2014, she suddenly disappeared from the public landscape, the BBC reports. Karimova allegedly used corruption money to buy real estate in at least 12 countries, including the UK, with “disturbing ease”.

It was later revealed that she was arrested on corruption charges while her father was still in power, and that she was convicted in December 2017. In 2019, she was sent to prison for violating the conditions of house arrest, reports news.ro.

Prosecutors accused her of being part of a criminal ring that controlled more than $1 billion in assets in 12 countries, including Britain, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

But in the meantime, Karimova and her associates have already sold part of the real estate that they should have purchased with corruption money.

Freedom For Eurasia searched property registries and cadastral registers, finding at least 14 properties purchased before her arrest with allegedly suspicious funds in various countries, including the UK, Switzerland, France, Dubai and Hong Kong.

“The Karimova case is one of the biggest bribery and corruption cases of all time,” said Tom Mayne, an Oxford University researcher who co-authored a Freedom For Eurasia report called Who Enabled the Uzbek Princess? (Who allowed the Uzbek princess? – no), which should be released on Tuesday, March 14.

A Freedom For Eurasia report said Karimova and her associates used firms in London and the British Virgin Islands to spend vast sums of money obtained from corruption on real estate and private jets. The daughter of the Uzbek dictator spent $240 million on real estate from London to Hong Kong, according to a report.

Karimova easily got real estate in Great Britain

Accountancy firms in London and the British Virgin Islands have acted on behalf of British companies involved in the transactions, raising new doubts about the UK’s efforts to combat illicit wealth, the BBC said.

The Freedom House report shows that the ease with which Karimova obtained properties in the UK is “alarming”. British authorities have long been accused of not doing enough to prevent overseas criminals from using British property to launder money.

On the other hand, there is no indication that those acting on behalf of companies linked to Karimova knew they belonged to her, or that the source of the funds was dubious.

None of those who provided these services in Great Britain were investigated or fined, the BBC states.

Three apartments, a house and a mansion

The report details five properties bought in and around London now worth £50m: three flats in Belgravia, west of Buckingham Palace, a house in Mayfair and an £18m mansion in Surrey £ with private boating lake. .

Two apartments in Belgravia were sold in 2013, before Karimova’s arrest.

In 2017, the Mayfair house, a mansion in Surrey and a third flat in Belgravia were seized by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.

Karimova’s boyfriend, Rustam Madumarov, and others believed to be her accomplices were named in official documents as the “beneficial owners” – the legal term for the person with ultimate control – of companies located in the United States, Gibraltar and the British Virgin Islands. .

Companies used for money laundering

But the report says these were just fronts for Karimova, who used the firms to launder hundreds of millions of dollars.

Accounting services for two British companies associated with Karimova – Panally Ltd and Odenton Management Ltd – were provided by the London company SH Landes LLP. In late July 2010, SH Landes attempted to register or acquire another company.

The purpose was to purchase a private plane for approximately 40 million dollars, and the real beneficiary was Madumarov. In fact, according to the report, Karimova was behind the purchase.

Then, when asked about the source of the beneficiary’s funds, S. H. Landes answered: “We believe that the issue of personal wealth is irrelevant in this situation.”

Millions of dollars appropriated by the daughter of the Uzbek dictator

Later, the London-based firm reported that Madumarov’s fortune partly comes from the Uzbek mobile communications company Uzdonrobita.

In this case, too, there are suspicions, since it is very likely that this company is also connected with Gulnara Karimova. Back in 2004, the Moscow Times published an article that the daughter of the Uzbek dictator embezzled $20 million from Uzdunrobita using fake accounts. The former adviser also accused Karimova of “blackmailing”.

Because this was a high-value transaction involving a high-risk jurisdiction, Uzbekistan, the report states that SH Landes should have conducted due diligence on clients to ensure that the source of the funds was legitimate and not a criminal activity.

SH Landes also presented the financial statements of Panally Ltd for 2012. The report states that it was signed in September 2013 by Gayane Avakyan, a close associate of Gulnara Karimova, who was 30 years old at the time.

Late events

The BBC reported last year that Avakian was the registered beneficial owner of Takilant, a Gibraltar company at the center of a multi-million dollar fraud and corruption scandal in Uzbekistan.

“SH Landes LLP never employed Gulnara Karimova. “SH Landes” LLP spoke on behalf of Rustam Madumarov. SH Landes LLP has carried out due diligence on all of its clients and the relevant regulatory authorities have been notified and kept informed,” the company told the BBC.

Tom Main of Freedom For Eurasia says, however, that the apparent ease with which Karimova has been able to acquire so many properties in the UK is worrying.

“Only in 2017 did the authorities take action, years after other countries had already frozen his bank accounts and property,” he said.