March 29, 2024

The “Uzbek princess” bought real estate all over the world – with a bribe

Gulnara Karimova is said to have amassed a huge fortune through corruption. It has spent $240 million on properties from London to Hong Kong, according to a report.

The daughter of Uzbekistan’s first president, she was a fashion designer, singer and diplomat – before she disappeared from the scene in 2014, indicted for corruption in Uzbekistan. She is still in jail there.

Now it becomes clear: between 2003 and 2012 Gulnara Karimova spent a total of 240 million US dollars on real estate around the world. This came from the Freedom for Eurasia report. In Great Britain, France, Switzerland and Hong Kong, among others, the “Uzbek princess”, as she was called for a while, acquired possessions.

It is said that the daughter of former Uzbek President Islam Karimov bought some of these properties with assets she had built up through bribes and corruption. The main issue was the issue of mobile phone licenses in Uzbekistan, for which large bribes were said to have been paid.

Focus on Great Britain

According to the report, the focus of their investments was Great Britain. I owned five properties there. It will be worth £50m. British companies were also used to buy houses and a plane with these illegal funds.

The BBC wrote: “The story casts doubt on the UK’s efforts to crack down on illicit wealth.” The Freedom for Eurasia report said it was “alarming” that Karimova was able to obtain property in Britain so easily.