Karimova Gulnara Islamovna

Biography

Gulnara Karimova was one of the most influential figures in Uzbekistan. Her father Islam Karimov led the country from 1990 to 2016.

Corrupt transactions with telecom operators

In April 2015, the Sarajevo-based International Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) presented a report on the relationship between Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, and foreign telecommunications companies operating in the country. The authors of the report claim that they managed to collect documentary evidence of the receipt of Karimova payments from telecom operators totaling $1.07 billion.

Transactions with Alfa Group and VimpelCom

In particular, the report tells about the details of the entry of VimpelCom"" (Beeline trademark) into the market. In Uzbekistan 2005, its largest shareholder, "," Alfa Group acquired the small Uzbek operator Buzztel for $4 million. A little later, Alfa Group agreed to buy another small operator, Uzmacom, whose advantage was the presence of a large frequency resource.

However, in the fall of 2005, Uzmacom was unable to transfer an annual license payment of $1 million for the use of radio frequencies, and its license was revoked. The frequencies of the operator were transmitted to Buzztel. Later, Alfa Group resold Buzztel to VimpelCom for $60 million, while VimpelCom bought another Uzbek mobile operator, Unitel.

A few days after this transaction, Alfa Group, through its offshore company Aqute Holdings & Investments, transferred $20 million to the account of the Gibraltar company Takilant. The activities of this structure are being investigated by law enforcement agencies in Switzerland and Sweden, which suspect Takilant of having links with Gulnara Karimova. The formal owner of Takilant is fashion designer Gayane Avakyan, a close friend of Karimova and the former head of the House of Style created by the daughter of the Uzbek leader.

OCCRP experts believe that the aforementioned payment of Alfa Group paid the Uzbek authorities for the transfer of frequencies from Uzmacom to Buzztel. This, in turn, allowed Alpha to resell Buzztel to VimpelCom at a price 15 times more expensive than this asset was bought.

Takilant spent the money received from Alfa Group on cooperation with VimpelCom: an indirect stake in the amount of 7% of Unitel shares was acquired for $20 million with the simultaneous conclusion of a put-option obliging VimpelCom to buy this stake back. This happened in 2009, but for the return of previously sold shares, VimpelCom paid more - $57 million. In total, VimpelCom and Alfa Group paid Karimova structures $176 million, according to OCCRP.

MTS Transactions

Gulnara Karimova also collaborated with MTS. In the early 2000s, she established control over the largest mobile operator in Uzbekistan at that time, Uzdunrobita. According to the testimony of Farhod Inogambaev, who worked as a consultant for Karimova's ex-husband Mansur Maqsudi, the daughter of the Uzbek leader forced the operator's controlling shareholder, the American International Communication Group (a "daughter" of the Pakistani Arfeen Group), to donate 20% of the operator's shares to her. Another 31% of the shares were transferred by Karimova by the state of Uzbekistan itself.

In the course of two transactions in 2004 and 2007, MTS bought 100% of Uzdunrobit shares for a total amount of $376 million. In the second case, the seller was the offshore Swisdom, owned by Karimova's common-law husband Rustam Madumarov. MTS bought the advertising agency "Color Design" from him for $13 million. At the same time, Bekzod Akhmedov, who was part of the inner circle of the daughter of the Uzbek leader, remained the head of Uzdunrobit until the company was liquidated in 2012.

In addition, in 2008-2009. offshore from the British Virgin Islands Merkony Investment Group transferred to Takilant and another offshore company Finex, which is considered related to Karimov, $87.5 million for certain frequencies for WiMAX technology and fiber optic cables. Finex is owned by offshore Pannaly, whose director is fashion designer Gayane Avakyan. The director of Merkony was Oleg Sviridov, a lawyer at Uzdunrobit and the right-hand man of Bekzod Akhmedov.

Payments from TeliaSonera

Swedish the Finnish TeliaSonera, having acquired the Uzbek mobile operator Coscom in 2007, was also forced to take Takilant into partners. The total amount of payments that the Scandinavians transferred to Karimova's structures amounted to $456 million.

Eastwell deals

Finally, the OCCRP report refers to transactions made in 2007 by Uzbekistan Eastwell, a group specializing in work in the CIS countries. The group sold Japanese Sumitomo and Korean KDDI to Internet provider East Telecom and wireless WiMAX operator SuperMAX. After this transaction, Eastwell transferred $3.8 million to the accounts of Takilant and Finex offshore companies associated with Karimov.

2011: Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Spain

Gulnara has held a variety of diplomatic positions, including serving as ambassador to Spain from 2010-2011.

The president's daughter controlled several television channels, owned her own clothing brand and built a career as a pop singer under the name Googoosha - her songs were constantly played on local radio stations. Gulnara Karimova was even considered a possible successor to his father as head. states

2012: Quarrel with Bekzod Akhmedov

In 2012, there was a quarrel between Gulnara Karimova and Bekzod Akhmedov. He fled, and Uzbekistan the country's authorities accused MTS him of patronizing his flight and closed the activities of Uzdunrobit. After that Switzerland , accounts allegedly belonging to Karimova were frozen in, and an investigation into Sweden the relationship between the daughter of the Uzbek leader and TeliaSonera began.

Subsequently, Gulnara Karimova herself fell out of favor with her father. A number of organizations belonging to her were closed, people from her entourage, including Gayane Avakyan and Rustam Madumarov, were arrested, and as of April 2015 she herself was under house arrest^[1]

2014: Opala and house arrest

By early 2014, her business empire had been destroyed. TV channels were closed, those close to Karimova were sentenced to prison terms. In particular, her alleged boyfriend Rustam Madumarov received 10 years. He was accused of participating in the organized criminal group, which appropriated the assets of state-owned companies. The prosecutor's office still reported that a separate criminal case was being investigated against G. Karimova^[2].

Gulnara Karimova, September 16, 2014

Since the beginning of 2014, Karimova has been under house arrest. In February 2014, Gulnara Karimova stopped appearing on Twitter; her account has been suspended. Officially, her house arrest was not reported, but Karimova's son Islam (after the death of Gulnara's father in 2016) said that his mother was not allowed out of the house, although she was not charged. He said that they were going to kill her.

2017

On July 28, 2017, the prosecutor's office of Uzbekistan announced the detention of Gulnara Karimova. The prosecutor's office said that back in 2015, Karimova was sentenced to five years in prison - in the same case as her boyfriend and friend Gayane Avakyan (she headed a shell company where TeliaSonera transferred a bribe).

The prosecutor's office also announced another case against Karimova. She is accused of several economic articles, including the legalization of money for one and a half billion dollars abroad. The country's authorities want to arrest its assets in Sweden (30 million euros), Great Britain (4.2 million pounds, houses, apartments, villas), France (apartments, villas, castle), Russia (6 million dollars, penthouse, apartments, mansion on Rublevka), Malta (plane) and so on.

2020

In February 2020, Gulnara Karimova turned to the head of the country Shavkat Mirziyoyev. She wrote that she was ready to return to the state the $686 million held in the family's frozen accounts in Switzerland in exchange for release.

At this time, Karimova is in a colony of general regime KIN-21 in Uzbekistan. Previously, she received five years of restriction of freedom for extortion and theft.

Gulnara notes that her assets and property in the amount of $1.2 billion were seized, but not counted to pay off material damage.

2025: Return to the treasury of Uzbekistan $131 million of funds confiscated in Switzerland

Uzbekistan Switzerland Another $95 million was returned to the treasury from confiscated funds belonging to Gulnara Karimova. This was announced in April 2025 by the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of the country Otabek Fozilkarimov. According to him, an agreement was reached on the return of a total of $131 million. As of April 2025, $87 million of the funds received were directed to the spheres and. health care formations Work is also underway to return funds from - Belgium we are talking about $108 million.^[3]

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