The Anti-Corruption Agency filed a request to the State Assets Management Agency (SAMA) demanding to abide by the principles of openness and transparency in the privatization of state-owned property, the Agency's press service said.
The agency reviewed media reports regarding the privatization of the government stake in the national postal operator UzPost (Uzbekistan Post) and checked whether the disclosed information complies with legal requirements.
According to presidential decrees, the company has been added to the list of large state-owned enterprises subject to transformation, and 29.4% of the government’s stake in the company is included in the list of shareholdings subject to sale at public auction.
The agency underscored that current legislation obliged government agencies to ensure the availability of information about privatized property, post the data on an open data portal, and update it quarterly. It is also prohibited to put state property up for auction without first making information about it publicly available.
Background
It was reported that the government’s stake in UzPost could be privatized and that the buyer could be a Russian online platform (reports have surfaced online that it could be Wildberries). The deal was not officially announced.
On October 14, the Russian publication RBC also reported that Wildberries & Russ had privatized the Uzbekistan Post. The deal had been in the works for some time, and the Russian marketplace has extensive plans in Uzbekistan, according to one of the publication's sources.
The local digital ecosystem Uzum, which depends on UzPost (52% of Uzum Market pickup points are located in post offices), is attempting to participate in the auction and has bid to purchase the postal operator's stake.
UzPost itself confirmed plans to attract investment for modernization and digital transformation, without either denying or confirming the privatization information.
The company previously failed to disclose the transfer of a 25% stake from the National Investment Fund—one of the largest shareholders of O'zbekiston Pochtasi—to the balance sheet of the State Assets Management Agency. This important fact was not published on either the company's corporate website or the Unified Corporate Information Disclosure Portal.
