Former Acting Governor of Samarkand Province Sentenced To 15

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000257 SIPDIS AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG AMEMBASSY ASTANA PASS TO USOFFICE ALMATY AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PASS TO AMCONSUL HYDERABAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 2018-12-22 TAGS: PGOV KCOR PTER PINR ZJ UZ SUBJECT: Former Acting Governor of Samarkand Province Sentenced To 15 Years Imprisonment REF: a) A.) 08 TASHKENT 469 CLASSIFIED BY: Timothy P Buckley, Second Secretary; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (SBU) In April 2008 the state-controlled press reported that the Acting Hokim (Governor) of Samarkand Province, Azamkhon Bakhromov, was relieved of his duties and there were reports at that time that he was subsequently placed under house arrest (reftel). On March 3, sources told our Political Assistant that the Government of Uzbekistan distributed information to the press that Bakhromov was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Other accomplices implicated in the same criminal investigation were also sentenced to various prison terms, according to an article which appeared via the Interfax News Agency in Moscow. ¶2. (C) After his 2008 arrest Bakhromov was charged with several crimes under the criminal code of Uzbekistan, including receiving bribes and involvement with financing international terrorist organizations. Maruf Usmanov, Deputy Chair of the Human Rights Ombudsman Office with contacts in the Presidential Apparat, discreetly reported to our Embassy Political Assistant last year that, based on sensitive information provided by the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO),Uzbek law enforcement agencies arrested an ethnic Chechen who had commercial ties with Acting Hokim Bakhromov. On April 15, 2008, President Karimov apparently mentioned this during a closed meeting of the Council of People's Deputies of Samarkand Province, at which he fired and humiliated Bakhromov. According to Usmanov, arrests of other people affiliated with Bakhromov were made not only in Samarkand but throughout Uzbekistan. ¶3. (C) According to Usmanov several Samarkand businessmen were also arrested, including those who managed the Parvina Bank. It was discovered that, in order to create their local financial empire, these influential Samarqand businessmen used the capital of their Chechen friends who were reportedly financing terrorist organizations in the territory of Russia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The Chairman of the Parvina Bank fled abroad but, according to Usmanov, he was later arrested in China and handed over to Uzbek authorities. The March 3 article only noted that Bakhromov and his cronies "set up a shadow economy which they used to rob the state." It also noted the court investigation established that Bakhromov "actually sold senior posts" in the Samarkand administration. (Note: We are shocked! End note.) On February 27, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan published a press release announcing that the charter for the Parvina Bank was revoked according to Statute 14 of the Uzbek law On Bank and Bank Activities "in connection with violations." Comment: -------------- ¶4. (C) It is common for regional hokims get fired and lambasted after relatively short tenures, but Bakhromov's subsequent arrest, conviction, and long sentence demonstrate that he must have personally angered President Karimov, himself a Samarkand native, in the way he conducted affairs. We expect this to be a case Uzbekistan eventually highlights as it rolls out publicity for its implementation of the U.N. Convention Against Corruption, which it adopted last year. BUTCHER To view the entire SMART message, go to URL http://repository.state.sgov.gov/_layouts/OSS SearchResults.aspx?k=messageid:c62d78c5-a676- 4550-aa93-6bac125c1afe