Tajik official who has been arrested for taking a half-million dollar bribe just can get off with a fine.
The Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption is continuing an investigation into the case of Askar Nouralizoda, the deputy head of the Main Directorate for Investment and Development of Regions at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, who has been caught red-handed while taking a US$490,000 bribe.
Criminal proceedings have been instituted against him under the provisions of Article 314 (part 4, points “c” and “d”) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – extorting bribe and large-scale bribery.
Under this article, Nuralizoda can be punished by a prison term of between seven and twelve years or punished with a fine ranging from 639,000 somoni to 1.095 million somoni.
Meanwhile, a source at the anticorruption agency says the applicant did not get to receive the grant, for which he paid bribe to Nouralizoda.
Investigation into the case of Nouralizoda is under way and the anticorruption agency representatives say they will inform media as soon as the case moves to a court.
Recall, Nouralizoda was caught red-handed on September 28 while taking a US$490,000 bribe. Besides, investigators found 10,000 U.S. dollars in his home.
According to information posted on the anticorruption agency’s official website, Askar Nouralizoda requested a US$1 million bribe and a three-room apartment for his wife Savrinisso Kholiqova from a resident of the Jaloliddini-Balkhi district in exchange for including the development of poultry production in the district in the 2016-2020 state investment program.
That resident of the Jaloliddini-Balkhi district (the agency refrained from giving his name in the interest of the investigation) promised to give US1 million to Nouralizoda if he help him receive a US10 million grant for the poultry production development program.
