Islam Karimov made his children happy

 

 

	Father and daughters – Islam, Gulnara and Lola Karimov

05.06.13 16:18

Islam Karimov made his children happy

 

Documents revealing the corrupt nature of Gulnara Karimova’s wealth, recently published by a Swedish TV channel, serve as a reminder of her father’s dream – happiness for his children.

Islam Karimov, the ruler of Uzbekistan since 1989, once expressed his wish for his own children and children in general.

“Our children should be smarter, stronger, wiser, and, of course, happier than us,” said Karimov full of emotion. His words were immediately etched in stone and printed on billboards now hanging across the country.

Today, Karimov, a father of two daughters – Gulnara and Lola – and a grandfather to five, can reflect on the achievements of his children.

Professional success …

In his 30s and 40s, Karimov worked as an aviation engineer in Tashkent and later as a senior specialist at the State Planning Commission of Uzbekistan. In contrast, his daughters’ own careers developed much faster.

At 23, Gulnara Karimova was the advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, as well as responsible for preparing analytical reports to the UN’s Security Council and the Office of the President.

Despite a number of lengthy sabbaticals, at 36, Karimova became Deputy Minister of Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs and Ambassador to UN in Geneva and Spain.

She has remained at the helm of Uzbekistan’s UN and other official delegations in Geneva, despite having failed to show up for work for almost a year.

Karimov’s younger daughter’s professional development was equally fast, which no doubt brings much joy to her father.

Despite the complete absence of any professional experience in the foreign service, the 34-year old has held a post of Ambassador to UNESCO in Paris for several years.

… and financial success

As far as the financial wealth of his children goes, Karimov could tally it in either carats or hard currency, in either luxury real estate or bank deposit boxes.

The Swedish TV channel SVT published documents from an undisclosed source that reveal the depth and reach of Gulnara Karimova’s business empire and her accumulated wealth.

“Is all good with Beeline?” she inquires in a matter of fact manner about her financial matters, “who is signing the 5-million agreement on our side, certainly not Gayane?!”

Handwriting analysis performed by experts, commissioned by the Swedish TV channel SVT, proves that Karimova did indeed make these handwritten remarks on a pile of financial documents.

The contents of these documents produced by her assistants reveal something more akin to a mafia-run enterprise than a legal business.

Last summer, Karimova orchestrated a bribe scheme in her dealings with a Swedish-Finnish telecommunications company TeliaSonera, owner of an Uzbekistan based cell phone provider Ucell. In exchange for hefty bribes she promised to protect the company from a number of Uzbek government agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expand the company’s client base, and to minimize competition within the country.

To get a sense of the extent of the bribes, it should be noted that sums of money less than a million USD – and that is a million USD per month – are not deemed worthy of being listed in the documents.

In these documents, Karimova attempts to make an agreement with TeliaSonera for the amount of 15 million USD ($3 million per quarter) for five quarters. This agreement, her team is instructed, should be written “elusively and allegorically.”

It is clear from the documents that TeliaSonera tried to negotiate and proposed a counter-offer for six quarters in the amount of two million per quarter to be paid in Uzbek sums rather than US dollars.

Karimova’s advisers, however, were not willing to accept these bribes in Uzbek’s national currency and stated that the currency conversion would require additional legal fees, which in turn might alert the attention of the government financial controllers.

“TS has not responded yet,” her assistants report to Karimova.

“Do not pressure them yet,” instructs Karimova.

Furthermore, Karimova attempted to force TeliaSonera to sponsor three of her annual events – Kelazhak ovozi (competition for the children’s Voice of the Future), fashion week style.uz, and the music competition Asrlar sadosi (Echos of the Centuries).

On July 31, 2012, TeliaSonera agreed to these terms by signaling their willingness to sign a Memorandum of Understanding.

Gayane

The name Gayane Avakyan is frequently mentioned in these recently disclosed documents. Avakyan is a 30-year old woman from Tashkent whose name is often used by Karimova to establish companies and to open bank accounts, in Switzerland and other countries.

In another recently revealed document, that is ironically labeled by its creator “Memorandum. Project Interrogation. List of questions”, attempts are made to establish a fairytale-like portrait of Gayane Avakyan, outlining details of her unbelievable wealth and success. There is enough there to convince any Swiss prosecutor.

This document describes how she became the head of Gibraltar-based company called Takilant to which TeliaSonera transferred 2.2 billion Swedish krona (about 340 million USD) in 2007 as payment for 3G-license and cell frequency for operation in Uzbekistan.

Besides Takilant, Avakyan is also the sole owner and a shareholder in 11 more companies. She is also the founder of Tashkent-based House of Style and of many more.

In addition, she is also connected to a money-laundering case in Switzerland, where she is one of four citizens of Uzbekistan standing trial. During the investigation phase of the court case, several bank accounts in the amount of 600 million Swiss francs were frozen.

In the Memorandum, Gayane is presented as a niece of a wealthy Armenian, an influential representative of a Jewish-Armenian Diaspora in Uzbekistan.

She does not receive a proper salary since she is always a phone call away from money, which she spends freely on luxury goods and collecting art. She keeps enormous sums of cash in Switzerland and justifies that by the current economic crises. She is on first-name terms with many government officials in Uzbekistan.

The only thing that Gulnara Karimova did not wish to transfer entirely under her assistant’s name is her collection of jewelry stashed away in four safety boxes, access to which is also currently frozen together with the millions at the Lombard Odier bank.

In the prepared responses in the Memorandum, it is intended that Gayane will testify that part of the jewelry belongs to Gulnara Karimova (and that she can point those pieces out on a photo). She was keeping them safe for Gulnara because she is afraid of being robbed in Geneva.

much real estate

Another document prepared by Karimova’s assistants for her review is an overview of her real estate holdings.

The upkeep alone of her 13 real estate properties for the first half of 2012 was more than half a million USD: $503,290.19 to be precise.

The largest properties, as is stated in the report, are houses in London and Paris, as well as apartments in Paris and Moscow.

More properties listed, belonging to someone with initials “M. R.”, are an apartment in Moscow, an apartment in Paris, three apartments in London, a small house in London, and an apartment in Hong Kong.

More properties are in Yalta, belonging to someone with initials “Ye.I.” – dormitory No. 15, three small houses No. 54, 54 and 3 and a residential plot.

Many other details are available in the disclosed documents about the lives of Islam Karimov’s children. They show precisely how he managed to make his daughters and sons-in-law happy by allowing them to become mafia-like oligarchs within the country.

 

 

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