'Princess Of Uzbekistan' Indicted As Crime Syndicate Boss
Date
9/29/2023 2:27:21 PM
(MENAFN- Swissinfo)
Pусский
(ru)
((Узбекскую принцессу)) обвиняют в создании преступного синдиката
Karimova, 51, who has been imprisoned in Tashkent since 2014, is accused of having plundered hundreds of millions of dollars from Uzbekistan and systematically bribing corporate executives and government officials around the world. She is also accused of having laundered ill-gotten gains through an array of companies and bank accounts centred in Switzerland.
External Content
Swiss prosecutors filed a case against Karimova – who for years travelled the world as a UN diplomat, with immunity from prosecution, promoting her fashion brands and hobnobbing with celebrities – in the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona on Thursday afternoon.
The case accuses her of heading a criminal organisation known as“the office” which comprised dozens of individuals and more than 100 separate companies – all with apparently legitimate business interests – secretly working in concert to hide stolen money and enrich its members.
Grégoire Mangeat, Karimova's Geneva-based lawyer, said she“contests all the charges and will fight for her acquittal”.“The criminal organisation theory is totally disputed. It was pulled out of a hat by the Swiss prosecutors only a year ago, ten years after the start of their investigation,” he said.
He added:“Our client Gulnara Karimova has been held in arbitrary detention for almost ten years. She has no indication of how much longer she will have to spend in prison in Uzbekistan.”
Shortly after the indictment was filed, the federal prosecutor of Switzerland said:“In view in particular of its size, its mode of organisation, its infrastructures, the scale of the assets that it held and the qualifications of certain of its members, 'the office' conducted its criminal activities as a professional business, complying with mandatory regulations and observing a strict allocation of tasks, while also resorting to violence and intimidation.”
Zeromax
The central hub of“the office” was alleged to be the Swiss company Zeromax, which collapsed in 2010, becoming Switzerland's second-largest ever bankruptcy. Thanks to Switzerland's opaque corporate disclosure laws, Zeromax's implosion attracted little attention for more than a decade.
MENAFN29092023000210011054ID1107167359
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.