Uzbekistan and Switzerland have agreed on the return of confiscated assets belonging to Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of former President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, who passed away on September 2, 2016. The Telegram channel of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Justice reported.
On February 6, Minister of Justice of Uzbekistan Akbar Toshkulov and Switzerland’s Ambassador to Uzbekistan Konstantin Obolensky signed an «Agreement on the Distribution of Confiscated Assets.» Under this agreement, Switzerland will return $182 million.
According to the Ministry of Justice, these funds were confiscated in 2012 as part of a criminal case initiated by Switzerland’s Attorney General’s Office against Gulnara Karimova.
All returned assets will be directed to healthcare and education projects through the Uzbekistan Vision 2030 Multilateral Trust Fund, operating under the auspices of the UN.
In 2020, Karimova was sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges of embezzlement and tax evasion. That same year, Switzerland returned $131 million to Uzbekistan. According to Gazeta.uz, the total value of Karimova’s assets in European countries is estimated at nearly $1.4 billion.
