Uzbekistan and Switzerland have reached a new agreement on the return of assets linked to Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan’s first president.
On February 6, 2025, Uzbekistan’s Minister of Justice, Akbar Tashkulov, and Switzerland’s Ambassador to Tashkent, Konstantin Obolensky, signed a document outlining the transfer of approximately $182 million, according to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Justice.
Return of Assets via UN Fund
Under the agreement, funds confiscated by the Swiss Attorney General’s Office in 2012 as part of the case against G. Karimova will be transferred to Uzbekistan through the "Uzbekistan Vision 2030" Multilateral Trust Fund, established under the United Nations.
This fund was created to manage returned assets and allocate them to socially significant projects in the country.
Previous Agreements and Total Returned Funds
This is not the first cooperation between the two countries on the return of unlawfully acquired assets. In August 2022, an agreement was signed in Bern for the return of $131 million.
With this new agreement, the total amount of illicit funds recovered from Gulnara Karimova has reached $313 million.
The returned funds are planned to be used for projects in healthcare and education. Notably, in September 2023, the Uzbekistan Vision 2030 fund allocated $43.5 million to a UN program aimed at reducing maternal and newborn mortality in Uzbekistan.
The total value of assets linked to Gulnara Karimova and confiscated in various countries - including France, the United States, and Latvia - is estimated at $1.4 billion.
Who is Gulnara Karimova?
Gulnara Karimova, 53, is the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov (1938–2016).
She served as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Spain from January 2010 to July 2012.Under house arrest since 2013, she was sentenced in 2015 by the Tashkent Regional Court to five years of restricted freedom for embezzlement and extortion. In 2017, new charges were brought against her, leading to her imprisonment. On March 6, 2019, she was transferred to a general-regime penal colony for violating the terms of her sentence.
In 2019, Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office initiated new criminal cases against Karimova on charges of embezzlement of state funds, making deals contrary to Uzbekistan’s interests, and large-scale extortion of property.
In 2020, she was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison for embezzlement of state funds and extortion.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
February 7, 2025