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Eurasia
September 7, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 24
documents compiled by Swedish prosecutors asserted last year that Karimova used tactics of intimidation to wrest control of a major telecoms operator and turn it into a cash cow that she could draw on at her whim.
Four years ago, shortly after the bribery probe was launched, Karimova disappeared from the public eye and was placed under house arrest.
In September last year, the Uzbek Prosecutor- General's Office said it was seeking to freeze $1.5bn worth of Karimova’s assets in 12 countries. In total, the Uzbek authorities claim Karimova and her associates have stolen amounts of $1.6bn, €26mn, and UZS1.27tn ($311mn), which roughly adds up to $2bn.
In December, Karimova was added by the US to a list of 52 government-linked people from ex-Soviet countries subject to financial and
travel restrictions that fall under Washington’s Magnitsky Act.
Little information about Karimova's status and health condition has been released by the Uzbek authorities since July 2017 when the prosecutor’s office revealed she had been sentenced in 2015 to five years of “restricted freedom” for embezzlement, extortion and tax evasion. She is said to be detained in a prison located outside Uzbek capital Tashkent.
Her, son, Islam Karimov Jr. has claimed that his mother only remains alive thanks to computer files she removed from Uzbekistan prior to her detention that hold compromising materials
on senior members of the government. That allegation chimes with her lawyer Gregoire Mangeat’s insistence in June this year that her security was not guaranteed, despite her being in good health currently.
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