Corruption crackdown: Two Internal Affairs Officers arrested in Tashkent Region

Two internal affairs officers in the Tashkent region have been detained for accepting large bribes in exchange for reducing the sentences of detained citizens, according to the State Security Service.

In one reported incident, a Tashkent resident contacted the State Security Service call center with allegations that an internal affairs managerial officer was offering to lessen the penalty of a former officer—currently under investigation—in return for a bribe. The officer, acting through his contacts at various court institutions, demanded US $20,000 from the close relatives of the former official. On May 16, during a coordinated operation by the State Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, an IIB officer (born in 1995), identified as A.B., was caught accepting the US $20,000 bribe.

In a separate operation on May 17 in the Yangiyo‘l district of the Tashkent region, another internal affairs officer was apprehended while accepting a bribe of US $24,000 from an acquaintance of a convict. This officer had promised to use his influence with Tashkent city court officials to reduce the sentence of a prisoner—who had been sentenced to eight years and five months imprisonment. During the operation, authorities recovered several pieces of incriminating evidence from his possession, including documents from a legal association, certificates verifying his status from the Bar and Arbitration Court, and a copy of his appointment order by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Notably, this officer had served in the internal affairs until 2014, practiced law starting in 2022, and was reinstated into the department in April this year; however, within just two months of his return, he again engaged in corrupt activities.

Based on the evidence obtained, the Tashkent city prosecutor’s office has initiated criminal proceedings against both individuals under Article 168 (Fraud, Part 4) and Articles 28 and 211 (Bribery, Part 3) of the Criminal Code. This crackdown on corruption follows a similar recent incident in the Khorezm region, where an individual was apprehended for bribing an investigator to terminate a corruption case.