Bern (awp / ats) – Stage victory for Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the former Uzbek president: she won her case before the Court of Complaints of the Federal Criminal Court in a case where she is accused of having received bribes, according to the Bloomberg agency. This judgment could call into question the confiscation in Switzerland of 293 million dollars belonging to him.
The court ruled this week that Gulnara Karimova, currently in prison in her country for another corruption case, was not a public official in Uzbekistan. This means that the claims that it received large sums in exchange for large telecommunications contracts are unproven.
The Court presumes that as the daughter of an autocratic president, Gulnara Karimova had the de facto status of a public official exercising influence in the Uzbek telecommunications market. “Such a broad interpretation of the role of public official cannot be accepted,” they write. The corruption and money laundering of which he is accused cannot thus be demonstrated, concludes the court of Bellinzona.
The charge collapses ___
“This decision marks a decisive turning point in the investigation conducted against Gulnara Karimova”, indicated Friday evening its defenders, Grégoire Mangeat and Fanny Margairaz, in a position statement sent to the Keystone-ATS agency. It is the whole basis of the accusation of the MPC which is today called into question, they continue.
The MPC’s strategy is also severely criticized, the lawyers continue. The Court of Complaints finds that the confiscation of funds from Gulnara Karimova’s company in an ancillary procedure, while the main investigation is still in progress, violated her presumption of innocence. The case therefore returns to the lower instance.
Survey since 2012 ___
In July 2012, the Public Ministry of the Confederation (MPC) opened a criminal investigation against the personal assistant of Ms. Karimova and the general manager of the Uzbek subsidiary of a Russian telecommunications company, for suspicion of forgery in securities and money laundering.
The criminal proceedings were then extended to two employees of Ms. Karimova, to Ms. Karimova herself and to her ex-husband. In total, approximately 800 million Swiss francs have been blocked in the criminal proceedings in connection with Ms Karimova.
In December 2021, the TPF ordered the confiscation of $293 million belonging to Ms Karimova. But the TPF’s latest decision could allow it to attempt to recover those funds, writes Bloomberg. Still, the main person concerned was sentenced in 2020 in Uzbekistan to 13 years in prison for money laundering and extortion.
ats/rp