The Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the General Prosecutor's Office has exposed a massive embezzlement scheme that drained 643.2 billion soums (approximately $53.9 million) from the state budget. The findings were officially disclosed by the department's press service.
The preliminary inquiry was conducted in collaboration with the Compliance and Anti-Corruption Control Department of the National Tax Committee.
The investigation reveals that the co-conspirators illegally factored Value-Added Tax (VAT) lines into electronic invoices for industrial services valued at 5.3 trillion soums. These services were provided as part of a major expansion project at the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex and were legally exempt from VAT under state protocols.
By fabricating these tax liabilities, the group artificially generated an illicit VAT accumulation within the system. The anti-corruption watchdog reports that these fraudulent public funds were subsequently funneled back into the bank account of LLC "A." or redirected to offset the outstanding state debts of JV LLC "S. E."
The Department confirmed that a total of 643.2 billion soums in public funds was systematically stolen through misappropriation and embezzlement. A formal criminal case has been initiated under Article 167 of the Criminal Code (Embezzlement or Misappropriation), and active investigative proceedings are currently underway.
According to investigators, responsible officials from the National Tax Committee and the Bukhara Regional Tax Administration entered into a criminal conspiracy with executives from the state-owned energy giant Uzbekneftegaz, LLC "SH. G.", JV LLC "S. E.", LLC "A.", and the permanent establishment of JV LLC "E. E." operating in Uzbekistan.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev had previously announced a sweeping, large-scale audit within Uzbekneftegaz and the State Assets Management Agency (SAMA), which he revealed unmasked "embezzlement running into billions of soums." Media outlets subsequently reported that the former head of Uzbekneftegaz, Bakhodir Siddikov, had been taken into custody.
During a government briefing on January 27, the Head of State declared that "corruption had flourished for many years" within these administrative structures. He explicitly instructed the State Security Service (SGB) to investigate the culpability of the officials who overseen the operations of Uzbekneftegaz and the agency. Furthermore, the President demanded a rigorous, case-by-case review of every state asset privatization deal, ordering the total dismantling of these illicit networks to ensure that no perpetrator escapes accountability.
The expansion initiative for the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex was originally greenlit via a presidential decree back in 2017. The megaproject was designed to scale up annual polyethylene production from 125,000 to 405,000 tons and launch a new polypropylene production line with a yearly capacity of up to 100,000 tons. This was to be achieved through the advanced processing of synthetic naphtha supplied by the neighboring Uzbekistan GTL plant.
In December 2021, following the official commissioning of the GTL plant, the President formally broke ground on the new complex to triple the Shurtan facility's output. The total capital expenditure for the expansion was estimated at $1.84 billion, structured to be funded through $629 million of Uzbekneftegaz's internal equity and $1.21 billion secured via foreign credit facilities.
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