A massive corruption scheme involving the fraudulent dispatch of Uzbek nationals to South Korea for work has been uncovered by the Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the General Prosecutor’s Office of Uzbekistan, according to its press service.
The department initially discovered that a criminal syndicate—comprising high-ranking executives from the former Agency for External Labor Migration under the Ministry of Employment (now reorganized as the Migration Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers) alongside private recruitment firms—had illegally pocketed $263,500 from 35 nationals.
Subsequent investigative procedures revealed a staggering broader operation: the group amassed a total of $90 million by systematically extorting job seekers for sums ranging between $7,000 and $12,000 per person, over and above official regulatory processing fees.
Based on formal complaints filed so far, authorities have successfully documented the precise financial damages inflicted upon more than 600 individuals who paid the fees but were ultimately never sent to South Korea.
The oversight agency highlighted several other related fraud cases within the investigation. One case involved 230 nationals who were defrauded of $580,000, while another targeted 1,000 victims who collectively lost $5.6 million. Across these various connected incidents, illicit gains topped $45 million.
The General Prosecutor’s Office has urged any nationals victimized by this criminal network to come forward and contact their dedicated hotline at 71-233-10-07, promising that all whistleblower and victim identities will remain strictly confidential.
Last summer, the Migration Agency dismissed its entire staff at its representative office in Seoul. That purge followed widespread reports exposed in the media revealing that personnel had extorted more than $700,000 from migrant laborers.
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