Khamroev: Uzbekistan, decomposed with corruption, becomes target for China's expansion

The expert is sure that the «cotton business» is not that bad as the current scale of corruption in Uzbekistan.

The issue of combating corruption is discussed among the power circles of Uzbekistan every month. According to the international rating of perceptions of corruption, this republic is very far from even the 100th position out of 180 states. At the end of November Tanzila Narbaeva, head of the Uzbek National Council for Combating Corruption noted that the state needs laws for combating this phenomenon and mechanisms for their implementation as well.

Back in Soviet times, Uzbekistan struck the country with a «cotton affair», defendants of which took bribes and lived like «kings». Expert and political scientist Bakhrom Khamroev, giving interview to CentralAsia.news, emphasized that the elites under the presidents — Islam Karimov and Shavkat Mirziyoyev have been mired in corruption. The interviewee pointed out that the situation has become even worse because now the independent republic with its gluttonous corrupt officials has become highly dependent on China. The developed shadow economic sector directly affects the independence of the state.

Independence gave a free hand

During the existence of the USSR, inspectors of Uzbekistan were greeted as very dear guests: a feast, gifts, leisure — everything, if only the visitor did not begin to fulfill his direct obligations. The republic’s leadership was generous with gifts for the birthdays of Brezhnev and several other influential persons in the country. The system suited both local officials and the Center: loyalty in exchange for partly their orders and personnel.

It is naive to think that it used to be worse, but now everyone in Uzbekistan wants to fight corruption, says Bahrom Khamroev.

Comparing the corruption in the Soviet period and now, it should be noted that modern Uzbekistan is far ahead of even the most daring aspirations of Soviet corrupt officials. However, in fairness, Uzbekistan is no exception in this process. With the collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the active construction of capitalism in the post-Soviet space, corruption and uncontrolled embezzlement of former state assets by people who gained power and their entourage appeared everywhere, underlined Khamroev.

— Therefore, comparisons here are unlikely to be appropriate. Despite the high-profile «cotton affair», all further exposures of Central Asian corruption and clannishness, all these negative processes were significantly limited both by the very structure of the Soviet economy and politics, which prevented the concentration of capital in the same hands and by strict party control and the ideology of the USSR, — said the interviewee.

Khamroev stated that with the collapse of a huge country, the leadership of independent Uzbekistan gained much more power, which did not always benefit the development of the domestic economy. High ranks began to enrich themselves even more actively. Under Karimov, the specificities of the late Soviet order remained, limiting corruption, and under Mirziyoyev, the construction of the most real wild capitalism started. It was accompanied by the plundering of all the former remnants, said the interviewee.

The expert noted that under Karimov, the «army of corrupt officials» was smaller than under the current president. He stated that now the fight against corruption is completely different from its goal.

— If under Karimov, corruption in the upper echelons was limited to the president’s small family, which consisted of himself, his wife, and two daughters — Lola and Gulnara, now the number of beneficiaries has grown significantly — President Mirziyoyev has a large family. Within the fight against corruption, all assets belonging to the Karimov family were seized and redistributed in favor of the Mirziyoyev clan, — explained the expert.

Relatives of the current leader of Uzbekistan headed various departments, large banks, and enterprises. At the same time, the most large-scale corrupt official, according to Khamroev, is Mirziyoyev’s son-in-law, Tursunov Oybek, who is the first deputy head of the presidential administration. All appointments to significant government posts pass through him, and in the worst traditions of the Middle Ages, millions of bribes are paid, noted Bahrom Khamroev. Profitable sectors of the Uzbek economy, such as the cotton industry, key banks, for example, Kapitalbank, are controlled by him.

The expert gave an example of when the process of redistribution of assets is carried out in an egregiously rude and even predatory manner, in his opinion.

— Literally, in November 2020, a major scandal took place — six hectares of land in the center of Tashkent were donated to Urban Developers LLC, associated with Oybek Tursunov by the mayor of the city. At the same time, more than a hundred entrepreneurs who owned shops in this territory lost their businesses. All complaints and attempts to obtain compensation, as expected, did not lead to any results, — said the interviewee.

It must be added that the news of the «generosity» towards the president’s son-in-law has become an excellent way for the opposition media to «ride» through the power and ridicule the fight against corruption.

Khamroev noted that the father of the son-in-law of the head of the state Batyr Tursunov works as the first deputy chairman of the National Security Service of Uzbekistan which is quite a respectable position.

The expert underlined that under the auspices of the fight against corruption, those who are not associated with the president’s clan are pushed away with the profitable areas.

— As a result, more and more people say that Uzbekistan was flooded with an army of wild capitalists, and there was more justice under Karimov, — added the expert.

Care for the wallet — a threat to sovereignty

The political scientist noted that mass corruption in Uzbekistan is not just bribery, it is an influence on the course, the system of state development. First, the economy suffers, then the damage spreads to the political sphere, and then the growth of dependence on other countries follows.

The economic situation in Uzbekistan is rapidly deteriorating, said the expert. Against this background, the external debt over the three years since Mirziyoyev came to power has grown by more than 10 billion dollars: from 17 to 27.6 billion (of which 17.5 billion in public debt, the rest falls on the private sector). At the same time, China is the main creditor of Uzbekistan (namely, 21 percent).

At the moment, Uzbekistan is one of the five main debtor countries of China. Khamroev drew attention to the fact that in addition to increasing lending, Beijing, through its businessmen, is massively buying up Uzbek enterprises, land, carries out large-scale construction projects, and invests huge amounts of money in the Uzbek economy.

— Don’t be fooled, the goals of the Chinese efforts are not just economic cooperation. It is not an exaggeration to say that China is pursuing an expansionist policy here, and Uzbekistan is among the states following the Chinese channel, — said the interviewee.

The political scientist noted that it was most strikingly manifested in July 2019. At that time 22 European states sharply criticized China, accusing it of carrying out politically and religiously motivated repressions against the Turkic-speaking Uyghur national minority, including the creation of concentration camps, a targeted policy of assimilation of the Uyghurs, and the destruction of their cultural identity. The position of Tashkent turned out to be interesting, noted the expert.

— Literally, two days later, Uzbekistan, which is among the states with the largest debts to China, came out with unconditional support for the Chinese policy towards the Uyghurs, who are the closest people to Uzbeks in cultural terms, — reminded Khamroev.

The expert added that the decomposing economic system of the republic leads to the fact that the state, a key player in Central Asia, leads to a reorientation towards the Celestial Empire, which does not meet the interests of the Russian Federation. And for the region, it is not something positive.

16 дек 2020, 21:05
Photo source: rus.ozodlik.org

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