The US government has secured the right to seize $300 million in allegedly illicit proceeds from an “international conspiracy” involving a relative of Uzbek strongman Islam Karimov.

 

A US Federal Court in New York issued the ruling July 9. The Department of Justice successfully argued that the seized funds are connected to a case involving alleged bribery and money laundering in Uzbekistan’s telecoms sector, Bloomberg reported.

 

The funds are in accounts in Belgium, Ireland, and Luxemburg held at Bank of New York Mellon, which declined to comment to EurasiaNet.org when the complaint was filed late in June.

 

The complaint alleges that illicit payments were made by two telecoms companies, Russia’s MTS and Amsterdam-based VimpelCom, to curry influence and secure favorable decisions to operate in Uzbekistan’s telecommunications sector.

 

VimpelCom is cooperating with the investigation, a spokesperson told EurasiaNet.org last month. MTS declined to comment.

 

The chief beneficiary, who is unnamed in the complaint, was a “close relative” of Karimov’s, the US complaint alleges. It characterizes the individual as “GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL A,” who previously “held several positions in the Uzbek government.”

 

Gulnara Karimova, the president’s eldest daughter who is under house arrest in Uzbekistan on corruption charges, has previously been named as a suspect in a money-laundering probe in Switzerland involving payments in Uzbekistan’s telecoms sector, which is linked to an ongoing bribery probe in Sweden.

 

She has held government positions including as deputy foreign minister and ambassador to Spain and the United Nations in Geneva.