Many of the country’s top business leaders have been arrested. Little is known of what is going on and why, but some speak of tax fraud and corruption. Some analysts believe that President Karimov might be trying to wipe the slate clean and carry out a generational change among Uzbek elites. Ordinary Uzbeks should not be affected by the changes at the top.

Tashkent (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Uzbek authorities are arresting some of the wealthiest businessmen in the country. Little is officially known, but some are talking about an anti-corruption campaign of sort. Others are speculating that Uzbek President Islam Karimov is trying to wipe the slate clean of the old oligarchs in order to replace them with younger people beholden to him.

Among the latest information, sources in the Finance Ministry are saying that the authorities plan to revoke the licence of Uzbekistan’s Alp Jamol Bank and that individual deposits in the bank would be transferred to the state-owned Xalq. The situation around the bank’s corporate deposits is not clear yet.

According to unconfirmed online information, an inspection has started at the bank. The chairman of its management board, Fazliddin Abdurashidov, and its owner, Mukhiddin Asomiddinov, are also said to be on the run.

Some independent websites report that Dmitry Lim, owner of the Karavan Bazaar, Uzbekistan's largest wholesale market, was taken into custody along with more than 50 high-ranking officials of the market. Other sources are reporting that he fled to the United States where his wife and son have been long time residents.

Alik Nurutdinov, who heads the Bekabad cement factory, and Batyr Rakhimov, businessman and president of one of Tashkent's main football clubs, Pakhtakor, have also been reportedly detained. Batyr’s brother Bakhtiyor is also wanted but is thought to have fled the country.

It seems that one of the two Uzbek owners of the Swiss-registered company Zeromax, which is involved in Uzbekistan's oil and gas industry, was brought in for questioning.

Official sources are saying that all those involved in the crackdown are accused of financial crimes, ranging from tax evasion to corruption. However, few details have been made public.

The operation appears to have its origins in a speech President Islam Karimov gave in December during a national holiday, when he said, “There will be no oligarchs in our country.”

Aleksey Volosevich of www.ferghana.ru says it could simply be that the state needs money. In order to fill the state coffers, what better way than to “take over an established and successful business or threaten legal action to get the rich to put huge amounts of money into state coffers.”

Other experts note that many of the people involved have been in power for decades and that the operation against them might be part of a strategy by the Karimov family to create a new, younger elite beholden to them. Speculation has it that the crackdown might actually be directed at Zemlikhan Khaidarov, a shadowy figure who is believed to be real owner of many of the companies affected.

Surat Ikramov, head of the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Activists of Uzbekistan, thinks that this campaign will not produce desired results because those who will replace the disgraced businessmen will continue to run businesses the same crooked ways. The fact that ordinary Uzbeks are not being informed of what is going on is a telling point.

He added that the situation was reminiscent of the liquidation of Biznes Bank in March 2005, when depositors were not allowed to transfer their money to banks of their choice, because the Central Bank specified to which banks they should transfer their money.

• uzbekistan
• crackdown
• oligarchs
• arrests
• islam
• karimov
• flight