Andijan city mayor Bahromjon Khaydarov was detained as a suspect in a criminal case of embezzlement of budget funds on a large scale, the spokesman to the Prosecutor General's Office Khayot Shamsutdinov said.
Back in February, the Andijan province prosecutor's office sent a proposal to the council of people's deputies of the city to deprive Bakhrom Khaydarov of parliamentary immunity. He was suspected of causing damage to the state interests worth 1.7 billion soums due to possible violations of the law in the allocation of land.
This case was dismissed after the mayor reimbursed the said funds, Zhakhongir Zhiyanov, a deputy of the city council, told Gazeta.uz.
On April 19, the General Prosecutor's Office submitted another submission to the council to deprive Bakhrom Khaydarov of his parliamentary immunity. Jahongir Zhiyanov said that the process was conducted in violation of the law and decrees of the President. According to him, depriving the mayor of immunity was not included in the agenda of the 29th session of the city council and was already announced at the meeting itself.
“The question was raised to us on the day of the meeting. The resolution of the Senate states that each issue considered in the provincial, district and city councils of people's deputies should be considered by a standing commission. Here, two deputies are deprived of immunity, but the issue does not pass through the standing committee. Because the relevant documents should be submitted for consideration to the standing committee, but they were not given. This is wrong,” he said.
The deputy also said that the chairman of the session, assistant mayor Shakhobiddin Haydarov put pressure on the deputies.
“The deputies did not raise their hands during the first vote [on the question of lifting immunity]. According to the regulations, if no one raises their hand at the first vote, the issue should not be put to a vote a second time. But it was put to the vote twice. The MPs are under great pressure. As you know, many deputies work in organizations. Many deputies were called to the street. Other deputies received SMS on their phones,” he said.
As a result, 12 out of 18 deputies voted in favor of stripping their parliamentary immunity.
