The founder of Avto 60 Oy (tr. - Auto In 60 Months), Zhamshid Bahodirov, who was sentenced to 8 years in the case of fraud with installment plans for cars in March 2021, was released.
The company offered to purchase a car in installments without interest for 60 months and promised to deliver the car within 135 days. The company collected from individuals from 2 million to 10 million soums for drawing up the contract, but in the end did not perform its obligations. It was reported that almost 19 thousand people were affected; the damage was estimated at 57.4 billion soums ($6 million).
On March 29, 2021, Bahodirov received 8 years in prison, and other company officials received 5 to 7 years in prison.
To date, 34.15 billion soums have been recovered, while damage of 23.26 billion soums remains uncovered. Hundreds more people are victims of fraud related to the “service of buying cars and apartments on cheap and convenient terms,” and Zhamshid Bahodirov may be involved in this.
Supreme Court’s clarification
The press service of the Supreme Court commented on Bakhodirov’s release. According to the authority, the criminal case was not considered on appeal, since no appeal or protest was filed against the ruling of the court of first instance.
“Since Zh. Bahodirov served more than a quarter of the sentence, by the ruling of the Nishan District Court dated November 8, 2021, he was transferred to a settlement colony on the basis of Article 113 of the Criminal Executive Code to serve the remaining 5 years, 11 months and 7 days of imprisonment freedom. The convict has been serving his sentence in prison colony No. 43 since November 12, 2021,” the Supreme Court noted.
It is worth noting that the criminal case against Bahodirov was launched on October 12, 2019, during the investigation and the court decision he was in custody, that is, part of the term was deducted from 8 years.
On June 13, 2022, the colony-settlement gave a positive recommendation and reported that the convict complied with the established requirements and rules, was conscientious about his work and took the path of correction while serving his sentence.
By June 15, 2022, he had served one third of his sentence (2 years, 8 months 6 days) and, under Article 74 of the Criminal Code, could count on replacing the punishment with a more lenient punishment.
On June 21, 2022, the Buka District Court granted the request of lawyer Bahodirov and replaced the unserved part of the sentence of 5 years, 3 months and 24 days with correctional labor with the deduction of 20% of the salary to the state. This decision was not appealed.
The Supreme Court noted that, according to Article 46 of the Criminal Code, in case of evasion from correctional labor, the court can replace their unserved sentence with a punishment in the form of restriction of freedom or imprisonment.
Earlier, the former mayor of Urganch city, Shukhrat Abdullayev, who was found guilty in a massive embezzlement case, was released from prison on parole after 2 months of prison.
While, a Tashkent city teacher, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison for a 50 USD bribe, is still in prison.
In September, the blogger Abduqodir Muminov, renowned for criticizing the government was sentenced to 6 years in prison charged of extortion.
Also, in April a man in Tashkent who harassed a 17-year old schoolgirl (kissed her on a cheek) was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
