Confiscation of Assets Owned by Uzbekistan's First President's Daughter Takes Place in the UK

British law enforcement authorities have taken action to confiscate a luxurious mansion and two apartments owned by Gulnora Karimova, the elder daughter of Uzbekistan's first president, Islam Karimov. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) reported this development on their official Twitter account.

According to the SFO's announcement, they have seized assets belonging to Karimova and her family, with a value exceeding £20 million (over €23 million), following the discovery of her involvement in corrupt schemes in Uzbekistan. The SFO revealed that between 2004 and 2012, the former president's daughter received substantial sums of money in the form of bribes from telecommunications companies. These payments, according to the agency, were made in exchange for assistance in gaining access to the Uzbekistan market.

Liz Osborne, the Director of the SFO, stated that this decision marks a step forward in ongoing efforts to eradicate "dirty" money from the UK. She emphasized that their team had unraveled a complex financial trail involving numerous offshore accounts and companies to gain control over these assets.

Since the beginning of 2019, Gulnora Karimova has been serving her sentences in a Uzbek women's colony, initially facing five years and later extended to ten years of imprisonment. In March 2020, she was sentenced to an additional 13 years and 4 months in prison for various crimes including conspiracy, extortion, embezzlement, robbery, money laundering, and more.

Previously, reports indicated that the UK government allowed Russian oligarchs subject to sanctions to use frozen bank accounts for payment of private chefs, drivers, and domestic staff. This was in spite of the imposed sanctions.

In early July 2023, the Supreme Court of England and Wales rejected the lawsuit brought by Russian citizen Sergey Naumenko, who sought to challenge the UK government's decision to seize his yacht Phi in spring 2022 under the sanctions regime.

It is also worth noting that the Italian government made the decision to temporarily suspend the participation of Russian and Belarusian citizens in the Investor Visa for Italy program. This action came over a year after the European Commission recommended the cancellation of "golden visas" for these countries due to their aggression against Ukraine.