Photo: Press Service of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy
Seven employees of energy companies in the Samarkand region were arrested during a meeting on combating corruption. Ironically, all of them are suspected of corruption-related crimes, according to a report from Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy on its Telegram channel.
The meeting, chaired by Deputy Prosecutor General Shokhrukh Aminov, was held in Samarkand on February 14. The main agenda was addressing measures to transform the energy sector into a corruption-free industry. Representatives of regional, district, and city branches of Regional Electric Networks and Khududgazta'minot attended the event.
During the session, seven energy sector employees were detained in a procedural manner and formally charged with corruption. In full view of their colleagues, they were escorted out of the hall in handcuffs. It has been confirmed that all suspects have been remanded in custody pending the investigation.
At the end of the meeting, representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office instructed the leadership of electricity and gas supply companies to tighten oversight of labor discipline within their teams and to strengthen preventive measures against corruption in the sector.
Similar incidents have occurred in Central Asia before, where officials were arrested during meetings with their colleagues. For instance, on February 5 of this year, a similar case took place in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. During a meeting led by the city’s akim (mayor), Gabit Syzdykbekov, officers from the Anti-Corruption Agency interrupted the session and detained the acting head of the housing department. He was suspected of embezzling 120 million tenge (over $242,000) allocated for seismic assessments of residential buildings.
“I remind you once again—stop looking for ways to enrich yourselves illegally. We are representatives of public service,” the mayor of Shymkent commented, addressing government officials after the incident.
