Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT2176
2007-12-27 12:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

PROSECUTOR DEMANDED PAYMENT FROM DEPUTY HOKIM,

Tags:  PHUM KCRM PGOV PINR PREF SOCI UZ 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNT #2176/01 3611206
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 271206Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8963
INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 3563
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 9776
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1215
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 4179
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0069
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 0028
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 0055
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 3784
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2060
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0157
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV 0015
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 7252
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0729
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0914
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0057
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1698
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2207
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 002176 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL
MOSCOW FOR DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2017
TAGS: PHUM KCRM PGOV PINR PREF SOCI UZ
SUBJECT: PROSECUTOR DEMANDED PAYMENT FROM DEPUTY HOKIM,
WIFE OF FUGITIVE JOURNALIST

REF: TASHKENT 2147

Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 002176

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL
MOSCOW FOR DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2017
TAGS: PHUM KCRM PGOV PINR PREF SOCI UZ
SUBJECT: PROSECUTOR DEMANDED PAYMENT FROM DEPUTY HOKIM,
WIFE OF FUGITIVE JOURNALIST

REF: TASHKENT 2147

Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) Summary: On December 21, poloff met with Gulnora
Muradova, the wife of fugitive journalist Shukhrat Muradov
and acting Deputy Hokim of Tashkent's Sergeli district.
Muradova admitted that her husband was involved in a kickback
scheme at the "Na Postu" newspaper, but argued that he was
less involved than other individuals. Muradova accused the
prosecutor in the case of demanding payment in exchange for
the charges to be dropped against her husband. She also
confirmed that her husband is currently in Bishkek, but said
that he would hold off on seeking asylum status while she
tries to pull strings in Tashkent. Separately, Alisher
Sharipov, the alleged organizer of the kickback scheme, has
resurfaced in Kiev and filed for refugee status there. End
summary

WIFE ADMITS HUSBAND INVOLVED IN KICKBACK SCHEME
-------------- --


2. (C) On December 21, poloff met with Gulnora Muradova, the
wife of fugitive journalist Shukhrat Muradov. Muradova
simultaneously serves as acting Deputy Hokim for Women's
Issues of Tashkent's Sergeli district and head of its social
services department. On December 11, Muradov, a former
editor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' (MVD) "Na Postu"
newspaper, was sentenced to several years' imprisonment for
corruption while at Na Postu. The judge in the trial
allegedly tipped off Muradov's lawyer, Ezgulik Deputy
Chairman Abdurakhmon Tashanov, to the verdict before it could
be read, enabling Muradov to flee Uzbekistan before he could
be incarcerated. Tashanov told poloff on December 11 that
Murodov was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment (reftel),but
Muradova told poloff on December 26 that Murodov had been
included in the December 2007 amnesty and his prison term was
subsequently reduced to 4 and a half years.


3. (C) Contrary to what Tashanov had told poloff on December

11, Muradova admitted her husband's involvement in a kickback
scheme while he worked at Na Postu from 2000 to 2005.
According to Muradova, her husband was pressured by his
superior, former MVD Public Affairs Officer Alisher Sharipov,
to arrange contracts with a local newsprint supply company
and a German printing equipment firm in exchange for payments
passed to Sharipov. According to Muradova, her husband did
not want to get involved, but eventually succumbed to
Sharipov's pressures and arranged for kickbacks to be paid on
"one or two occasions" in the amount of 8 million soum (6,300
dollars.) However, she argued that the volume of kickbacks
paid to Sharipov increased exponentially after her husband
was fired from his position in August 2005 and replaced by
another individual. Sharipov was also investigated for his
role in the scheme, but he fled abroad before he could be
charged (reftel). The court's lengthy verdict in the Murodov
case, a copy of which was provided to poloff by Muradova,
notes Murodov's accusations that Sharipov told him to sign
contracts without holding the proper tenders.

SHARIPOV RESURFACES IN KIEV; REQUESTS ASYLUM
--------------


4. (C) On December 20, consular officer received an email
from a DHS immigration officer in Moscow that Sharipov had
resurfaced in Kiev and had filed there as a refugee. The
independent Uzmetronom website erroneously reported this

summer that Sharipov had fled to the United States (reftel).

PROSECUTOR DEMANDED PAYMENT FROM MURADOVA TO DROP CHARGES
-------------- --------------


5. (C) Muradova said that she was approached by the
prosecutor in the case, Temur Nurmuhamedov, who allegedly
demanded payment from Muradova in exchange for dropping the
charges against her husband. Without her permission,
Nurmuhamedov assessed the value of a house that their family
had purchased in Tashkent at 200 million soum (15,740
dollars). He then reportedly told her that her husband could
"repay" the money he allegedly stole by signing over the
house. Muradova refused to surrender the house, as it was
her family's major financial investment and her children's
inheritance. Muradova, corroborating what Tashanov had
earlier told poloff, said that the charges against another
defendant in the case were dropped after the individual
"repaid" the amount that he allegedly stole from the
newspaper.


6. (C) After she refused to give up her home, Muradova said
that Nurmuhamedov tried to ratchet up the pressure by calling
the supervisor who oversees her work at the social services
department and accusing her and her husband of financial
improprieties. Muradova said that her boss refused to listen
to the accusations and instead defended her. However,
Muradova was afraid that Nurmuhamedov would still try to
contact the Sergeli District Hokim and would try to have her
removed as acting Deputy Hokim.


7. (C) Muradova denied that her husband stole money from the
newspaper to build the family's house in Tashkent. Instead,
she largely inherited the money to buy the property from her
father, who she described as being "quite wealthy." Muradova
also denied a rumor circulated by the independent Uzmetronom
website that her husband had purchased another property in
Samarkand.

MURADOVA CONFIRMS HUSBAND IS IN BISHKEK; HOLDING OFF ON
CLAIMING ASYLUM
-------------- --------------


8. (C) Muradova reported that she had spoken over the phone
with her husband on several occasions since he fled the
country. She confirmed that he is currently in Bishkek and
staying with acquaintances of Tashanov. She said that her
husband took money with him and is able to support himself at
present.


9. (C) According to Muradova, her husband will seek refugee
status with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
office in Bishkek only as a last resort. Muradova said that
she planned to personally appeal to Supreme Court Chairman
Barotosh Mustafayev. Muradova admitted that she did not know
Mustafayev, but believed that he was an "honest and
reasonable" man and she was hopeful that he would consider
her husband's appeal. She also planned to appeal for
assistance from the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman.
However, if these approaches failed, Muradova said that she
would also be forced to flee Uzbekistan along with her three
children and seek refugee status with her husband in Bishkek.


MURADOVA TEMPRORARILY FILLING IN AS DEPUTY HOKIM
-------------- ---


10. (C) Muradova said that she had spent the last 20 years
working in Sergeli district's social services department,
gradually rising over the years to become its director in

2004. In September, she was tapped by the district's Hokim,
who she said was impressed by her energy and dedication, to
fill in as acting Deputy Hokim for Women's Issues until next
June. Despite her husband's difficulties, Muradova is still
hopeful that her elevation to Deputy Hokim will eventually be
made permanent (Comment: Muradova came off as more sincere
and less polished than most other Deputy Hokims poloff has
encountered, possibly belying her recent elevation to the
post. End comment.)

COMMENT
--------------


11. This provides valuable insight into the endemic
corruption permeating Uzbek society. While Muradova freely
admits that her husband was involved in the kickback scheme,
in her mind, he is still innocent because he was only
"lightly" involved compared to other persons. Likewise, the
prosecutor investigating the allegations of corruption
reportedly demanded payment from Muradova, and it appears
likely that he received such a bribe from another defendant
in the case. Muradova believes that her husband was targeted
because she comes from a well-off family and holds a
potentially lucrative position as Deputy Hokim. We believe
this is plausible.
NORLAND