On Thursday 14 May 2020, the Uzbek authorities
announced that they had received US$10 million from France in the return of
"illegally acquired" assets of Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the
former President of Uzbekistan. The announcement follows a 9 July 2019 decision
by the French court to approve the confiscation of property acquired by Gulnara
Karimova, through money derived from corruption and ordered its return, as
compensation, to the Republic of Uzbekistan, who had filed a civil suit.
Karimova – currently serving a prison term in Uzbekistan – is accused of soliciting
bribe payments from three telecommunications companies with approximately a
billion USD’s under investigation.
This first asset restitution by France to a receiving
country could have been an opportunity to establish a transparent and
accountable mechanism and ensure that the returned assets would ultimately
benefit the Uzbek population. This unfortunately did not take place.
The confiscation of Gulnara Karimova's three
properties in France was decided in the context of the French criminal
procedure of the comparution sur reconnaissance préalable de culpabilité (CRPC),
a French equivalent of a "guilty plea". A trial in open court was
replaced by a closed-door negotiation between the French judicial authorities,
the legal representative of the three civil real estate companies that had
acquired real estate properties on behalf of G. Karimova, and the Uzbek state.
The acceleration of the restitution of Gulnara Karimova's assets was thus
achieved at the expense of transparency and accountability. The NGO Sherpa, a
civil party in the Karimova case since 2014, was unable to be present at the
CRPC's approval hearing, as the NGO was temporarily refused the renewal of its legal
accreditation, a prerequisite for anti-corruption associations to bring a civil
action in cases of corruption.
Marc-André Feffer, President of TI-F states,
"the lack of transparency inherent in this restitution is damaging and
paradoxical. It is damaging because there is currently no guarantee that this
money will actually be used to benefit the looted populations. Paradoxical,
because TI-F is currently lobbying the French government for the establishment
of a responsible system for the restitution of ill-gotten property. Such a
system must be transparent, accountable and involve French and local independent
NGOs to ensure that the funds returned are allocated to projects that benefit
the population".
This episode contrasts with France's recent
momentum in the area of asset restitution and is a missed opportunity for the
French authorities to set an example in the fight against global corruption and
money laundering.
The "ill-gotten gains "cases have
demonstrated the importance in the role of NGOs, particularly as initiators of
legal proceedings such as bring civil action cases when the French public
prosecutor's office has been inactive; and which also guarantees the
transparency and smooth running of the proceedings. The role of NGOs and independent
civil society is also essential when considering the restitution of assets in
countries that do not necessarily offer guarantees of exemplary behaviour",
says Franceline Lepany, President of the NGO Sherpa.
Despite the recent change in power, Uzbekistan
remains ranked 153rd out of 180 countries in Transparency International's
Corruption Perceptions Index. Uzbek and French civil society organisations
therefore insist on the importance of guarantees of transparency,
accountability and integrity in the return of funds to ensure that they do not
fall back into the channels of corruption.
Today, it is clear that such minimum guarantees
are not in place. The CRPC negotiations in 2019 covered several tens of
millions of euros, a minor part of the approximately 1.3 billion dollars that
Gulnara Karimova is suspected of having acquired illegally and invested abroad.
Despite the size of the sums involved, and the suspicions that several senior
Uzbek officials were involved in the disputed corruption schemes, France has
not provided any information regarding the restitution process, while the Uzbek
authorities have merely indicated that the 10 million dollars returned would be
"transferred to the Uzbek state budget.
According to Nadejda Atayeva, President of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, "In the absence of transparency
and accountability, there is a severe concern that returned assets could be at
risk of misappropriation and re-laundering. Such modalities for return would
set a dangerous precedent in the return of corrupt assets to authoritarian regimes, not only by France but also by other neighbouring European countries.
This is despite warnings by several Uzbek and international NGO’s and leading academics
voicing concerns over the lack of credible governance reform in Uzbekistan and
its potential impact on responsible asset return, with particular questions raised
regarding high-ranking officials and members of the Uzbek President’s family".
Switzerland, which has confiscated several hundred
million Swiss Francs from Gulnara Karimova’s associates, has at least provided minimum
transparency a press release announcing the restitution of confiscated funds. The
current French response sets a worrying precedent.
