TASHKENT

Uzbekistan and Switzerland will create a new United Nations Multilateral Trust Fund to return confiscated assets that belonged to Gulnara Karimova, the jailed daughter of late President Islam Karimov.

“The fund will be used to return assets that were finally confiscated as part of the criminal proceedings against Gulnara Karimova. It will also serve as a mechanism for the restitution of any additional assets that may be permanently confiscated in the future as part of the still ongoing criminal proceedings in Switzerland, Uzbekistan’s Justice Ministry said in a statement.

Currently, around $131 million is ready for restitution, according to the ministry.

Uzbekistan has been “actively working with the competent authorities of Switzerland, the United States, France, the Russian Federation and other countries to return assets obtained as a result of criminal activity and illegally withdrawn by Gulnara Karimova and her accomplices,” the ministry said.

Popularly known among Uzbeks as “Googoosha”, Gulnara Karimova was placed under house arrest in 2014 – even when her father was still in power. In 2020, she was moved to prison for violating the terms of her parole – including use of the internet, telephone communications and leaving her residence without permission.

The five-year term for violations of her house arrest was not all. Karimova, the eldest daughter of the former president, who ruled the country for 27 years until his death in 2016, received another nine years on new convictions of embezzlement and extortion.

According to the justice ministry, the trust fund management mechanism will consist of representatives from Switzerland, Uzbekistan and the UN.

“The Fund will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal in Uzbekistan. It will allocate resources to projects in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Uzbekistan,” the statement said.

All projects will be monitored in accordance with the Fund’s monitoring and evaluation system based on the rules and regulations of the UN system. Civil society organisations will play an advisory role.

The Fund will begin its activities after the signing of a legally binding restitution agreement between Switzerland and Uzbekistan, the ministry said.

Uzbekistan has already returned assets worth $20 million “criminally acquired by Gulnara Karimova” from France. Currently, the process of selling Karimova’s assets in Russia has been launched after the Moscow court had recognised the sentences of the Uzbek courts against Gulnara Karimova and her accomplices, the ministry said adding that proceeds would be returned to Uzbekistan.