44-year-old Gulnara Karimova, at one time the most powerful and influential person in Uzbekistan after her father, the president, was supposed to become his successor. However, this did not happen: in 2013, she fell out of favor, and after the death of Karimov, Gulnara, according to rumors, was placed under arrest by the new head of state and was even subject to compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital. On November 5, an anonymous source reported that Gulnara was poisoned.

Startling news from Uzbekistan has the community rocked: it says the glamorous daughter of former dictator Islam Karimov has died of “poisoning”. However, the sensational news about the death of ex-billionaire Gulnara Karimova is not confirmed by Tashkent, which refused to comment.

Just a few months ago it was reported that 44-year-old Gulnara was locked up in a psychiatric hospital, and there were other news reports that claimed she was under house arrest. Finally, there were even those who saw Gulnara Karimova alive and unharmed in Israel.

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Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of the first president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov (1990-2016). She married American businessman Mansur Maskudi in 1991, making him manager of the Coca-Cola plant in Tashkent. Has two children with him. In 2001, the marriage broke up. Karimova is a professional designer jewelry, known as a singer under the stage name Googoosha, is the chairman of the board of trustees of the non-governmental Foundation “Forum of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan” and a number of other public organizations.

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In September, when she was not at her father's funeral in Samarkand, Gulnara's friends became very worried. Islam Karimov ruled the country from 1991 until his death, being an absolute dictator.

The Asian website Central News, citing an anonymous source from the Uzbek National Security Service, reported that Gulnara Karimova died in the capital on November 5.

The incredible news is spreading amid the presidential campaign, and the rumors could be considered black PR.

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According to the source, he personally participated in the burial process of Gulnara Karimova, and decided to have a telephone interview with Ts-1, fearing for the fate of her children - son Islam and daughter Iman, who remain in Tashkent in a powerless and helpless position.

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Until now, there have been no refutations from official sources to anonymous statements that on the night of November 5, Gulnara “was buried in the Minor cemetery in Tashkent, and her grave was razed to the ground.”

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The Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan, where the obvious future president of the country Shavkat Mirziyoyev continues to work, responded to C-1’s request that they knew nothing about the fate of Gulnara Karimova. At the same time, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers rejected the possibility of any statement from government agencies in this regard.

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Galima Bukharbaeva, editor-in-chief site, who lives in exile, claims that she personally spoke with the source.

We received the information more than a week ago, but all this time we have been trying to verify the data. I really wish this was all fiction!

Our source also said that her son Islam was deceived and lured from London to Tashkent. So obviously he and his sister are together now. And we can only guess what is really happening. The anonymous author also said that his concern for children left without help was the main motive that forced him to turn to the free press. I do not know whether our source tried to reach other media outlets.

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Some argue that Karimova faded into the background as the clans that surrounded her father began to fight for power and his health weakened.

Until 2013, she was considered the most influential woman V Central Asia: Harvard graduate, friends in British royal family, celebrity, beauty, model... Gulnara saw herself as an heiress until she became the center of a number of corruption scandals.

Today, the United States is seeking to return to Uzbekistan more than $600 million that was taken out of the country thanks to a scheme developed by Gulnara. Switzerland has also become a permanent platform for money laundering through a trust fund, which authorities believe is actually Gulnara Karimova’s pocket. Today £615 million is stuck there, according to reports.

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Her Twitter has suddenly become more active in recent weeks.

One recent message: “I want my children back. This is all I dream about,” gave some hope that Gulnara is “online” again. Last week, messages signed by Gulnara called on Sir Alex Ferguson to lead the Uzbekistan national football team.

“As for Sir Alex, I know that he is retired, but you can always find an approach and loopholes,” she allegedly wrote. “I had contacts with Sir Alex. I’ll talk to him, negotiate with ShM, and sign a contract with him.”

Previously, Gulnara asked for forgiveness for the colossal corruption of which she was a participant. for a long time was: “Who hasn’t taken advantage of their official position? Yes, I had that. I admit it!”

Further, her Twitter asks for forgiveness from her family, the future president (“I believe that he will bring glory to the country”), and finally, in other posts, the author generally calls on everyone to consolidate on the eve of the presidential election and gives her vote to “ShM.”

A thorough investigation by the Uzbek service RFE/RL showed that the tweets were faked, in which the Uzbek intelligence services were obviously involved. And that they were trying to smear Gulnara ahead of time. presidential elections". Independent portal C1 said that the presidential administration in Tashkent did not receive any answers to a request about Gulnara’s supposed death.

But the mystery deepens because the government of Uzbekistan made no comments about Karimova’s death.

Another unnamed source, allegedly close to Karimova’s family, told RIA Novosti that “Gulnara is alive.” But he refused to clarify information about her whereabouts.

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Former British Ambassador Craig Murray once described Gulnara as a beautiful and deadly James Bond villain. He said: "Gulnara is a fiend. Richer than Paris Hilton, undoubtedly smarter and probably sexier. I've dated both."

Gulnara Karimova is a professor of political science, holds an MBA, owner of dozens of businesses, martial arts expert, fluent in four languages, professional jewelry designer, poet and singer...

Despite her titles, Gulnara was extremely unpopular among the people. Now that his father is no longer alive, his huge inheritance will be distributed among the ruling elite. And Gulnara is unlikely to be among those who will get something. As Wikileaks once wrote, this woman is "a greedy, power-hungry person who uses her father to crush everyone who stands in her way."

Published 11/24/16 09:09

Uzbekistan news today, November 24, 2016: death message eldest daughter ex-President of Uzbekistan Gulnara Karimova was commented on by her son Islam.

Reports of the death of the eldest daughter of the first president of Uzbekistan, Gulnara Karimova, are “just rumors,” her son Islam Karimov said. He explained that his mother has been under house arrest since February 2014. At the same time, his sister Iman Karimova has already been released from house arrest, but she is prohibited from leaving the country. Karimov himself is currently in London, RBC reports.

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The son of Gulnara Karimova also sent a letter to REGNUM news agency, in which, in particular, he dispelled intkbbee rumors about the death of the mother.

“The news of the death of my mother, Gulnara Islamovna, spread throughout the world. For this reason, I decided to write you this letter,” the message says.

Islam Karimov Jr. PHOTO

According to Karimov Jr., from January 2014 to the present, he has been in London, and the day before, having seen publications in the media about the death of his mother, he immediately began to contact Tashkent by phone.

“Mom didn’t answer my call right away. I wanted to contact the Uzbek Embassy in London, but then my sister Iman called and dispelled all the rumors,” writes the grandson of the first president of Uzbekistan.

“I want to assure the public that my mother and sister are in Tashkent and are doing well. Mom was not placed in psychiatric hospital. She did not travel outside of Uzbekistan. All this time she was with Iman in her homeland,” the letter says.

Islam Karimov Jr. expressed regret that he could not provide more extensive information about himself and his family. “Thank you to everyone who worried about the fate of my mother, and to all those who expressed sincere words of support after the death of my grandfather,” the message says.

On September 2, 2016, the Uzbek authorities announced the death of the country's President Islam Karimov. His eldest daughter Gulnara Karimova has long been named among possible successors president, but in 2012 she became involved in a number of corruption scandals.

MOSCOW, July 28 – RIA Novosti, Igor Gashkov. The daughter of the first President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, Gulnara, who was previously under house arrest, was transferred to one of the prisons. The woman’s whereabouts have not been disclosed: authorities in Tashkent have commented sparingly on what happened. According to the Uzbek Prosecutor General's Office, the preventive measure for Karimova Jr. was chosen in connection with a court decision in 2015, which sentenced her to five years in prison. The verdict was pronounced during the life of Islam Karimov, who nevertheless did not send his daughter to prison.

Russian Islamic scholar Alexei Malashenko associates the change in the fate of the former “Tashkent princess” with the desire of the new authorities of the republic to “clean up the political field and make them completely forget about their daughter former president"Meanwhile, a new criminal case has been opened against Karimova in Uzbekistan, which means that the woman will face another trial.

The princess is taken aback

A new turn in the fate of Gulnara Karimova could in fact have occurred several months earlier - immediately after the death of her father on September 2, 2016. Since then, almost nothing has been known about the politician’s daughter. Rumors spread on the Internet about Karimova's death as a result of poisoning, as well as her placement in prison. In March, they were refuted by Karimova’s lawyer Gregoire Manja, who managed to meet with the president’s daughter during an interrogation conducted by the prosecutor’s office. According to this information, the woman was still under house arrest at that time.

The Uzbek authorities made the decision to tighten the punishment regime for Karimova simultaneously with an appeal to law enforcement agencies of other countries with a request to seize assets belonging to the convicted woman. The request sent from Uzbekistan includes 12 countries, including Russia. In our country, Karimova owns a relatively a small amount six million dollars, a penthouse in the Camelot residential complex, a mansion in the Rublyovka area, eight apartments and a hotel complex in Yalta. Karimova kept most of the funds belonging to her and her partners in foreign countries. Uzbek law enforcement officers found Karimova one billion 394 million US dollars in bank accounts, most of which (777 million) are in Switzerland.

The disclosure by the Uzbek prosecutor's office of the charges for which Karimova has already been convicted shows that most of them relate to the abuse of power arising from kinship with the head of the republic. Karimova was found guilty of theft, embezzlement of state property and the taking of funds by extortion from large entrepreneurs who knew how to protect themselves. Despite the obvious logic, it is not worth seeing Karimova’s arrest as a prologue to the debunking of her father. According to experts, the attitude of official Tashkent towards the president’s legacy will not change.

When all the doors are open

Presidential elections in Uzbekistan: for the first time without KarimovCitizens of Uzbekistan will elect a new president on Sunday. Four candidates are vying for the presidency. According to the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan, 21.435 million people will be able to take part in the elections.

A businesswoman, politician and even pop singer, Gulnara Karimova became known to the general public soon after her marriage to an American businessman of Uzbek-Afghan origin, Mansur Maksudi. This union resulted in the arrival of Maksudi’s business structures in the republic. The export of cotton and petroleum products, the production of soft drinks and the supply of sugar soon came under the control of the star couple of Uzbekistan. At the same time, the first accusations appeared that the president’s daughter and son-in-law had acquired part of their assets through dishonest means.

Karimova's subsequent business career developed at the rhythm of her privacy. After her divorce from Maksudi in 2001, the president’s daughter achieved the confiscation of the property that belonged to him and the institution of criminal cases against him. The new business partner of the “princess” was her common-law husband Rustam Madumarov. It was his offshore company that took over the ownership of the Uzbek mobile operator Uzdunrobita.

As Malashenko told RIA Novosti, entrepreneurial activity Karimova Jr. irritated her father, who often found himself in a “stupid position.” “He had to make excuses to politicians from the EU and the US for her activities abroad, and irritation in their relations grew,” says the political scientist. At the same time, Karimova acquired a powerful ill-wisher in the person of the Chairman of the Service national security Rustam Inoyatov. According to Malashenko, the influential security official, who retained power after Karimov’s death, may also be behind the current persecution against the “princess.”

"The European face of Uzbekistan"

According to the website of the General Prosecutor's Office of Uzbekistan, a criminal case against Gulnara Karimova was opened in 2013, and a court decision on it was made in 2015. All this time, Islam Karimov was in power, and his daughter, condemned for refusing to accept the traditional Central Asia female role, sank deeper and deeper into disgrace.

“Gulnara Karimova was not popular with the public opinion of Uzbekistan, but there was an urban stratum that supported her. For some of the Uzbeks, she was a spectacular symbol of modernity, female emancipation, freedom of morals. Uzbekistan is outside of traditions - and without any Islam. She was a European Uzbek lady And yet the majority did not like her: and if democratic elections had taken place with her participation, she would never have passed,” concludes Malashenko.

Now, according to the expert, the authorities of Uzbekistan will try to make sure that Karimova is forgotten. “However, opening a new criminal case and holding a trial may not be the best move. After all, Gulnara Karimova knows a lot. It’s unlikely that anyone else knows as much as she does. And Gulnara can tell about everything in court,” the expert warns .

Political ambitions

In 1995, 23-year-old Karimova began working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, she became an adviser to the minister. At that time, her father had led the country for more than six years. Karimova combined her studies in the United States with another government position - adviser to the permanent mission of Uzbekistan at the UN headquarters in New York. In September 2003, she worked as a counselor-envoy of the Uzbekistan Embassy in Russia.

In April 2005, the country's first think tank, the Center for Political Research (CPR), was opened, headed by Karimova. The center conducted international conferences and round tables, published the information and analytical magazine Uzbekistan & Central Asia. What is happening now with the center and whether it continues its work is unknown.

In 2010, Karimova became the ambassador of Uzbekistan to Spain, serving in this position for two years.

But the biggest story related to Karimova’s business concerns the telecommunications market of Uzbekistan. In the mid-2000s mobile communications was considered a luxury in the country. The largest operator was the company Uzdunrobita, the actual control of which, according to journalist Catherine Collins, was gained by Gulnara Karimova in 2002. In 2004, the Russian company MTS paid $126.4 million for a 74% stake in the company.

In 2012, a group of journalists found out that the Swedish-Finnish telecommunications company TeliaSonera paid about $300 million to enter the Uzbekistan market, and transferred the money through a company registered to Gulnara Karimova’s assistant. She herself denied any connection with the TeliaSonera case.

In 2012, an investigation into alleged bribes in the telecommunications market of Uzbekistan began in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden, and in 2014 in the United States.

According to the American side, the Russian companies MTS and VimpelСom and the Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera, through shell companies, paid bribes to people close to Karimova to gain access to the market. In February 2016, VimpelCom management agreed with the American authorities and Dutch prosecutors to settle corruption claims, admitting that they had given a bribe to an unnamed relative of the President of Uzbekistan. The company promised to pay $795 million in compensation. The Netherlands received half of this amount.

Criminal cases and house arrest

In the summer of 2013, Gulnara Karimova was deprived of diplomatic immunity, and several properties allegedly associated with her in France were searched at the request of the Swiss prosecutor's office. The searches were carried out as part of an investigation into the cases of several citizens of Uzbekistan related to the president’s daughter, but she herself, as the media wrote, was not involved in the case.

At the same time, the accounts of the media holding Terra Group were frozen, the press agency of Uzbekistan closed several television channels and radio stations owned by the holding, since they, the local special services, did not pay taxes to the country’s budget. Karimova’s project “Forum of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan” also ceased to exist. His closure of Karimov on his Twitter

At the end of July, the Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan announced that the eldest daughter of the first president of Uzbekistan had been charged with a number of charges, including fraud and money laundering. It became known that back in 2015 she was sentenced to five years of restriction of freedom. The Swiss supervisory authority announced the seizure of assets worth $840 million that belonged to Gulnara Karimova. was looking into why Karimov’s eldest daughter, who was believed to have some political ambitions several years ago, was subjected to criminal prosecution.

Portrait - by diplomatic mail

For a long time, Gulnara Karimova was a media person - she attended fashion shows, gave interviews, and was positioned as a philanthropist and a successful pop singer. How much the image created by the press differs from the opinion of observers can be judged by the example of the psychological portrait of Karimova compiled by American diplomats. In the 2000s, in dispatches to Washington, they characterized Gulnara Karimova as “the most hated person in the country.” She was not considered as a possible successor - according to employees, neither the people nor, more importantly, the elite would support the presidential ambitions of the eldest daughter of the head of the republic if she showed them. Moreover, diplomats noted that traditional Uzbek society would not accept her as a leader and successor to the father of the nation. But this characterization of Gulnara Karimova became known much later - in 2013, when WikiLeaks published correspondence from the US diplomatic department.

However, there were still years left before the scandal with the diplomatic mail leak, and in the early 2010s, some media outlets readily called Karimov’s successor. In 2012, she told reporters: “Sometimes it’s very difficult for me to say where my ceiling is. But I consider myself a developing person who does not have clearly defined boundaries, especially above himself, that is, a boundary that, as they say, closes communication with the sky.”

When asked whether she sees herself in the position of president of the republic, Gulnara vaguely answered that she considers herself an ambitious person. “Anyone who has ambitions and at the same time some brains and desire can be a potential head of state,” she explained. This phrase was later circulated as evidence that the president’s eldest daughter was not averse to becoming his successor.

True, few people remembered that as an example of a person worthy of occupying the highest post of the country, she directly named... her father, the president of the republic. “He, a man from a rather poor and large family, was able to achieve quite serious results and not only became president, but also worked for 25 years in the State Planning Committee of the republic during the USSR,” Gulnara described Karimov’s career path.

Peak of popularity

By that time, Gulnara’s career was developing very successfully. The eldest daughter of the President of Uzbekistan worked in the republic: from 1995 - as an adviser to the minister, in 2003-2005 - as a minister-counselor at the embassy in Moscow, from 2008 - as a permanent representative of the country and others international organizations in Geneva and Deputy Foreign Minister for international cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere. From 2010 to 2012, Karimova was Uzbekistan's ambassador to Madrid.

In addition to success at public service, Gulnara was also a singer: in 2012 she released an English-language album in the club-dance style in the USA under the creative pseudonym Gugusha. The organization she founded, “Forum of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan,” had representative offices in several countries, held cultural events, including the fashion week Art Week Style, and presented the work of Uzbek designers abroad. Since 2005, clothing, perfumes and jewelry have been produced under the Guli brand created by Karimova.

2012 probably became the peak of media popularity for the eldest daughter of the President of Uzbekistan. In the same year, the Swiss prosecutor's office began an investigation against four people from Gulnara Karimova's entourage (already next year the Swiss supervisory agency will open a criminal case against Gulnara herself on suspicion of money laundering). Investigators were interested in “illegal activities in the Uzbek telecommunications market.” Authorities froze accounts totaling 800 million Swiss francs (about 560 million euros) as part of a criminal case.

Also in 2012, Gulnara Karimova left her post as ambassador to Spain, and in the summer of 2013, reports appeared in the press that a mansion in Paris and a villa in the prestigious resort of St. Tropez that allegedly belonged to her were arrested. In 2014, the press published confirmation that a French court, as part of an investigation into “money laundering by an organized crime group” and “corruption of foreign officials» arrested real estate that could belong to the eldest daughter of the President of Uzbekistan.

"Braid my hair"

By 2014, as media reported, enterprises in Gulnara Karimova’s business empire had changed owners or closed. Guli clothing and cosmetics disappeared from the shelves, there were supply interruptions, the production plant of which in Uzbekistan was controlled by the presidential daughter. A new owner has appeared at her spa center and cinema.

In August of the same year online distributed photographs in which the president’s eldest daughter appears to be arguing with the guards surrounding her on the grounds of a certain house. The British PR company that published the photographs assured that it was acting on the orders of Gulnara Karimova’s friends and relatives. It is noteworthy that the defense of the president’s daughter was carried out not by lawyers and journalists, but by PR specialists.

On September 2, 2016, the death of the first President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, was announced in Tashkent. The song Gugushi immediately appeared on the YouTube video hosting service in memory of his father, Yurtbashi (head of state). “I didn’t appreciate you when you were around (...), braid my hair again, my father,” the woman sang off-screen. But at the funeral of Islam Karimov, which took place the next day, Gulnara Karimova was not present, only her younger sister Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva.

The prosecutor's office is authorized to declare

Almost a year has passed, and July 28, 2017 General Prosecutor's Office Uzbekistan informed that Gulnara Karimova was charged with fraud, concealment foreign currency, violation of customs legislation, violation of trade and service rules, forgery of documents, legalization of proceeds from criminal activities. According to the supervisory agency, “in territory 12 foreign countries The legalized assets of the organized crime group have been preliminarily established in the amount of 1 billion 394.1 million US dollars, 63.5 million euros, 27.1 million pounds and 18.5 million francs.”

A criminal case for tax evasion by a group that included Karimova was initiated back in 2013, and the verdict of Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter was handed down in August 2015: the court sentenced her to five years of restriction of freedom. On the same day, there was news from the Swiss prosecutor's office: the country's supervisory agency seized assets totaling almost $840 million. “Since the opening of a criminal case in Switzerland (in 2012 - approx. "Tapes.ru") The Prosecutor General’s Office conducted procedures for providing mutual legal assistance with 19 countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States,” the department noted.

Photo: Googoosha page on VKontakte

Period of fame

The long period of fragmentary news about Gulnara Karimova is over. “Criminal cases initiated at the initiative of the first President Islam Karimov testify to the responsibility of the first president as a politician. Since the beginning of 2014, on his instructions, she has been (and continues to be) in isolation. The current updating is associated with the emergence of new episodes proven by the court, on the basis of which, in fact, the current court case is built,” said an expert on Central Asia, an orientalist. The expert emphasized that there is no political background in the case of Gulnara Karimova, and the alleged political ambitions of the daughter of the first president of Uzbekistan are a fabrication of Western PR specialists, picked up by the media.

Specialist on Central Asia, professor at the Kazakh-German University Rustam Burnashev agrees that the media hype around latest events in the fate of Gulnara Karimova at least does not help to objectively assess latest news. “Rumors will always accompany the lives of top officials of the state and their relatives. For now they give us dry facts law enforcement agencies Uzbekistan, and judging by the reaction of their colleagues in Switzerland, the facts are confirmed,” he notes.

Be that as it may, the rise and fall of Gulnara Karimova once again confirms that the “picture” created by PR specialists can be far from political reality, and those who are entitled to this in their positions soberly assess the situation. The State Department made a disappointing “diagnosis” of Gugusha more than 10 years ago: “the most hated person in the country.” An example from a neighboring country can confirm this: according to media reports, a quarrel between the President of Kazakhstan and his former son-in-law Aliyev resulted in a war between lobbyists and PR specialists in... Washington. Rakhat Aliyev, who was at that time the ambassador to Austria and was accused of kidnapping Kazakh businessmen, according to official version, committed suicide in Vienna prison. And once upon a time, the president’s son-in-law was also tipped to be his successor.

The difference between the image of a glamorous pop singer, patron of the arts and a real businesswoman is dramatic. As the fate of Gulnara Karimova shows, not only on the screen, but also in real life.