NOV. 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Lola Karimova-Tillayeva, younger daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, and her husband have a combined wealth of 100m-200m Swiss francs ($110m-$220m), Swiss media reported. The report will be embarrassing to Mrs Karimova-Tillayeva who said in a recent interview that she was not particularly wealthy.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The International Labour Organisation (ILO) denied a report on the Uznews.net website which said it had not found evidence of child labour during its investigation of Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest. An ILO spokesperson said it was examining data and that it planned to issue a report in February.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan ditched a tax evasion investigation into Russian telecoms company VimpelCom and its brand Beeline. Pressure had been building on VimpelCom throughout the year. Earlier in the year, VimpelCom’s Russian rival MTS quit Uzbekistan after tax evasion charges were levied.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan continued to ramp up pressure on Gulanara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. On Nov. 27, the Central Bank withdrew an operating licence for Credit Standard Bank, which is linked to her. Later, police also closed down art and jewellery stores belong to Ms Karimova.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has introduced new regulation that, in theory, makes it harder to launder money and finance terrorism, media reported. Under the new rules, individual transactions of over $4,000 trigger a red flag, a tenth of the previous amount.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan remains one of the most corrupt countries on the plant. In its 2013 index, the anti-corruption lobby group Transparency International ranked Uzbekistan at 168th position alongside Turkmenistan and Syria. Only a selection of war ravished and awkward countries, including Afghanistan and North Korea, rank lower.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The media lobby group Reporters Without Borders handed its 2013 press freedom award to imprisoned Uzbek journalist Muhammad Bekzhanov. Bekzhanov edited an opposition newspaper until he was imprisoned in 1999 for plotting to a series of terrorist attacks.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tax inspectors in Uzbekistan have surprised observers by apparently pulling back from prosecuting Russia’s VimpelCom for tax evasion.
A report by the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti quoted a source from the Uzbek tax committee as saying that a two-month long investigation had found no violations.
“The inspection is complete. The company has received a resolution with some criticism but no violations of the tax legislation have been found,” an unnamed source at the Uzbek tax authorities told RIA-Novosti.
This will come as a relief to VimpelCom executives who must have feared at one point that they would be going the way of their Russian rival MTS which had to quit Uzbekistan earlier this year after a similar tax case ended in charges.
VimpelCom operates in Uzbekistan under its Beeline brand name. With roughly 55% of the country’s 19m mobile users, it is the largest mobile provider in Uzbekistan.
No details of why tax inspectors dropped the case against VimpelCom have been released.
No doubt there were behind-the-scenes negotiations between VimpelCom and the Uzbek authorities and between Russian and Uzbek officials, but we don’t know the details of what was agreed. Throughout, VimpelCom have denied the charges and said that it is the victim of an elaborate shake-down by the authorities, something they are renowned for.
Regardless, it will be a relief for investors in Uzbekistan generally. They have increasingly complained of Uzbekistan’s difficult business climate.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek authorities have tightened rules on private banking and money wiring. As of Nov. 25, Uzbek banks are now required to establish the identity of citizens exchanging $4,000, a tenth of the previously allowed amount.
Also, the new rules reduce to a total of $17,000 in three consecutive months the maximum amount people can wire without being considered as suspicious.
The authorities have said new regulations are part of efforts to combat terrorism financing and money laundering.
The timing, though, appears pertinent. Gulnara Karimova, the embattled eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, recently touched upon the money laundering issues on her Twitter page.
She said the Tashkent-based Asia Alliance Bank, established in August 2009, holds all of Uzbekistan’s assets and that this bank was set up specifically to launder money.
It’s important to note, though, that no formal charges have ever been levied at Asia Alliance Bank.
Ms Karimova, though, must tread carefully on money laundering. The French authorities currently have an ongoing case against her.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov visited Tashkent for talks with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov. Mr Berdymukhamedov is a relatively well-travelled leader but visits to other Central Asian countries are still rare. His visit showed that Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan relations are strong.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
