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First judicial success in the case of ill-gotten property. A decision of the French justice, final since Tuesday morning July 9, paves the way for a return to Uzbekistan property held in France by the daughter of former President Islam Karimov. The culmination of a long judicial investigation, unique in its kind. Story.
Serge Tournaire, investigating judge at the financial center of the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris and Nicolas Baietto, prosecutor at the National Financial Office do not hide their satisfaction, they realized a first judicial. The procedure initiated seven years ago against Gulnara Karimova is now closed.
From Tashkent to Geneva via London and Amsterdam, the two magistrates tracked the massive money embezzlement of the eldest daughter of the former Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov, discovering the incredible spending spree of the one on the internet. like "Uzbek beauty".
Former ambassador of her country at the UN, but also known for having organized fashion shows, launched a line of jewelery or interpreted pop songs, in particular with the French actor Gérard Depardieu, Goulnara Karimova, 46, nicknamed "Googoosha "Was a time tense to take over from his father at the head of this former Soviet republic. "The Uzbek beauty", however, will fall out of favor after comparing his father to Stalin and publicly attacking his mother and sister.
► See also: WikiLeaks: the daughter of the Uzbek president has a stranglehold on gas
The wind turns in 2016
In 2016, after more than a quarter of a century in power, his father Islam Karimov dies . Cited in cases of large-scale corruption in many countries, Europe and the United States, the favorite girl of the former dictator will experience a sharp drop. Uzbek justice accuses him of being part of a criminal group controlling assets in twelve countries, including properties in London, Dubai, a castle near Paris or a villa on the Côte d'Azur in Saint-Tropez. The following year, Gulnara Karimova, was sentenced in his country to 10 years in prison for fraud, embezzlement and the concealment of foreign currency reaching huge amounts, between three and five billion dollars are mentioned.
The sentence was commuted to five years of house arrest, but in March Goulnara Karimova was again sent back to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence, after breaking his house arrest and refusing to pay compensation to the state. .
In a message posted a few weeks ago on Instagram, she asked the Uzbek people for forgiveness for the " disappointments she may have caused ".
The former diplomat and pop singer also wrote that more than a billion euros had been transferred from her " personal assets " to the state, in order to " serve the interests of the republic's budget ," also insisting that she gave up any claim over more than 600 million euros held in foreign banks.
His Swiss lawyer, Gregoire Mangeat, confirmed that his client's message on Instagram was " authentic ".
At the end of June, the Swiss authorities announced that they had ordered the confiscation of nearly 120 million euros, which, according to them, had been laundered in this country by a relative of Goulnara Karimova.
Switzerland at the origin of the prosecutions
Because it is in Switzerland that this business originates. The Swiss bankers have seen two relatives of the Uzbek dictator's daughter arrive with curious requirements. They wanted to change the name of the economic beneficiary of a copiously stocked account. In 2012 the Swiss courts opened a preliminary investigation against Goulnara Karimova, his personal assistant, two of his collaborators and the general director of the Uzbek subsidiary of a Russian telecommunications company.
The Swiss authorities will seize 750 million Swiss francs. A request for mutual legal assistance is also being sent to France to determine whether some of these suspicious amounts of Uzbek origin have not been laundered. Responding to Swiss investigations, the Paris prosecutor's office will open a mirror procedure, a judicial inquiry is then entrusted to the judge Serge Tournaire, on alleged facts of "laundering organized gang and bribery of foreign agent."
Three properties purchased through real estate companies worth € 60 million are then identified. First there is an apartment in Paris, former property of the animator Arthur, for 30 million euros, a villa on the Côte d'Azur, in Saint-Tropez, and a castle, that of Groussay in Montfort -Amaury, near Rambouillet in the Yvelines, for some 28 million euros.
The investigations will reveal that behind these SCI lies the daughter of President Karimov, and that the funds are the fruit of corruption occurred in connection with the entry on the market of Uzbek telecoms companies incorporated under Swedish, Russian and Dutch law.
On September 5, 2014, the financial judge made three criminal seizure orders on these assets acquired between 2009 and 2011.
French magistrates note that a dozen countries are concerned by these dirty money launderings of Uzbek origin. " Some prosecutors, wondered if this investigation was not an excuse to travel " smiles the prosecutor Nicolas Baietto, adding " when we saw that there were all these countries, including the Swiss who had seized 750 million we felt a bit small with our three properties. Not to mention that we did not know where we were going, we had no precedents, BMA (Badly acquired goods) was a nascent concept. It seemed impossible, for example, to hear Gulnara Karimova whose father was still in power ... and then it was necessary to unravel this bag of financial nodes .
The French magistrates discovered that the pattern of corruption used is still the same: Goulnara Karimova systematically imposes the creation of a joint venture to all Western companies wishing to work in Uzbekistan, especially on the lucrative telecommunications market.
The Swedish judicial authorities thus highlight that in return for a telecom license, foreign companies are forced to take 26% of the shares of an Uzbek company, a real empty shell, valuing it artificially and thus allowing the payment of commissions occult.
The sale of real estate in France
In the French part, the three properties seized by the courts were entrusted to the AGRASC, the Agency for recovery of assets seized and confiscated. Justice has decided to sell these long-abandoned property and to record the sums.
To date, only the Paris apartment of Goulnara Karimova has been sold for 14 million euros. Castle Groussay, it is not yet surrendered. So to finance the interview, it was decided to rent it to television productions, episodes of the culinary show Top Chef, are currently shot. As for the villa of Saint-Tropez, the assignment is complicated, it is now occupied by squatters.
An alignment of planets
What to do with the sums recovered? Some states make the choice to keep the money confiscated. The French judicial authorities have, in this case, had a very innovative approach. After the death of the Uzbek dictator, Islam Karimov, they realize that the country is opening, is democratized. The planets are aligned, the return of the sums deposited is then chosen. But to do this, it was necessary for Uzbekistan to become a civil party. " And it was not an easy task," said prosecutor Nicolas Baietto, " It took 18 months of exchanges to achieve this. It is our trip to Tashkent, with Serge Tournaire who changed the file. The Uzbeks were told that the civil suit was in their interest to be able to recover the money. The Uzbek government was delighted to see us, they were in a hurry to turn the page Karimov. She is not really popular in her country. "
The French magistrates will however specify that they will take from the recovered sums the expenses of investigation. The sum of two million euros is stopped. " We did not want to push the kindness to stupidity so we also wanted a piece of the cake to finance the investigation costs ," said the prosecutor Nicolas Baietto, stating: " We have no tool to estimate our costs we did it in the past . "
On June 26th, an appearance on a prior plea of guilty (CRPC), also known as guilty plea, is decided between the parties. This procedure avoids a trial to a person who acknowledges the facts alleged against him. The procedure can only be applied at the initiative of the public prosecutor. The deadline for appeal having expired, the decision became final this Tuesday, July 9, 2019.
A first judicial
In the context of ill-gotten property, this is the first time that France will return assets seized on its territory. " But we have to go back down to earth, " insists prosecutor Baietto, " I'm not sure it's simple to reproduce, there was a change of regime in Uzbekistan, we were lucky ."
► See also: Visit to France of the highly reforming President of Uzbekistan