State Security Service arrested officials of Tashkent province tax authority and the labor protection branch of Karakalpakstan redhandedly while receiving a bribe, the press service of the security agency said.
The senior inspector of the Yangiyul district tax authority of Tashkent province and the head of the branch of the Yangiyul City Tax Inspectorate colluded and demanded $5,000 in exchange for paying off the tax debt of a business entity.
A criminal case has been initiated against these officials under Receipt of a bribe by extortion by prior conspiracy by a group of officials.
In another case, an employee of the state labor inspectorate of the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction of Karakalpakstan received $10,000 in exchange for issuing a conclusion that two workers who died in a fire at a licorice root processing plant were officially employed.
A criminal case has been opened under Taking a bribe by extortion.
Corruption is omnipresent and rampant in Uzbekistan to the point that it became a system replacing the normal relations within law. Virtually every single affair, matter or problem can be handled through a bribe or an acquaintance.
