Illegal Land Sales Uncovered in Three Regions of Uzbekistan

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Instances of illegal land sales have been identified in the Jizzakh, Surkhandarya, and Tashkent regions, the State Security Service of Uzbekistan reports.

In one district of Jizzakh, the head of a branch of the State Cadastral Chamber under the district hokimiyat, using a 42-sotok plot provided to him under a lease agreement without the right to sell, registered the plot in his spouse’s name and sold it to a third party. Later, through connections in government bodies, he demanded US$28,000 for processing cadastral documents. During an operational action conducted by the State Security Service and the Department under the General Prosecutor’s Office, the offender was detained with the received funds.

In Surkhandarya region, a resident of the Kumkurgan district, born in 1974, together with a cadastral engineer from the Cadastral Chamber branch of Jarqurghan district, organized the sale of an illegally seized 40-sotok land plot held in the hokimiyat reserve. The transaction amounted to 200 million soums, and the engineer received 4 million soums for processing the cadastral documents. During a joint operational action, officers from the State Security Service, the Department for Combating Economic Crimes, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained both individuals with the funds.

In Tashkent region, in the Bostanlyk district, the chairman of a local mahalla civic assembly demanded US$150,000 to register an individual residential house on a 15-sotok plot and an adjacent 1-hectare, 35-sotok land plot in the state reserve in the buyer’s name. He had previously received US$50,000. The offender was detained by officers from the State Security Service, the Department for Combating Economic Crimes, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Criminal proceedings have been initiated against all the individuals involved, and investigative actions are underway.