A pre-investigation inquiry conducted by a department under the Prosecutor General's Office has uncovered a criminal scheme involving illegal trade in narcotic and psychotropic substances and cryptoassets, carried out by officials of the HST, VEK, and RBMT limited liability companies, among others.
According to investigators, the group sold narcotic and psychotropic substances through 58 Telegram bots linked to the international drug-trafficking network Tesla Shop. Proceeds from these sales — totaling 20.9 billion soums — were funneled through 90 fraudulent ("drop") bank cards opened in Uzbekistan under the names of 14 foreign nationals. An additional 8 billion soums were transferred to HST and VEK, companies operating under the Paynet payment system, while 4.7 billion soums were funneled through the cryptocurrency exchange CP.
These and other funds were subsequently transferred into the companies' own bank accounts.
Investigators also found that the group had provided Paynet payment services to the public worth 621.2 billion soums while failing to pay 90.3 billion soums in taxes. Using proceeds generated from these activities, the group carried out illegal cryptoasset transactions totaling $50.5 million, of which $2.4 million in cryptoassets was transferred to the foreign-currency accounts of 14 foreign nationals.
Through these methods, the group is accused of laundering proceeds obtained through criminal activity.
A criminal case has been opened under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code, and an investigation is underway.
This is not the first such case uncovered in Tashkent. Authorities had previously reported shutting down an illegal cryptoasset trading operation worth a total of $578,000 in the capital, and disclosed another scheme involving nearly $11 million in illicit cryptoasset transactions.
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