Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of late Uzbek president Islam Karimov won a victory at a Swiss court over allegations she took bribes, in a ruling that may help her reclaim 293 million francs ($303 million) in frozen funds, Bloomberg reported.
The swiss court ruled Gulnara Karimova, who serves prison sentence in Uzbekistan after corruption scandal, is not a public official. This means that allegations that she took bribes in exchange for telecom deals are not proved.
"The strategy of the Swiss Prosecutors is severely criticised: the confiscation of Gulnara Karimova's company assets in an ancillary proceeding, while the main investigation against her is underway, resulted in a violation of her presumption of innocence," her lawyer Gregoire Mangeat said.
"Karimova has been kept in arbitrary detention in Uzbekistan for the last 8 years. She faced at least three sham trials, one in her kitchen, the other two behind closed doors. Our team (Mangeat/Margairaz/Wavre) will continue to fight for Karimova’s innocence and release," the lawyer said.
Gulnara Karimova was sentenced to 5 years of restriction of freedom in 2015. She was transferred to prison in 2019. In March 2020, she was handed down another 13 years and 4 months in prison "for appropriatio of public funds and signing deals contrary to the interests of Uzbekistan, misappropriation of property via extortion".
