One year since Tajprombank, a mid-sized bank in Tajikistan, collapsed, savers have barely any of their cash back despite promises from the country’s president that nobody would be left out of pocket, according to EurasiaNet.org.
After Tajprombank was liquidated last February 24, the state-run Savings Deposit Fund paid out 17,500 somoni (around 2,000 USD) to each customer, but little else.
One defrauded saver, Ms. Solehamo Samadova, has been leading a group of fellow disgruntled depositors in petitioning the National Bank of Tajikistan, the Finance Ministry, parliament and Deputy Prime Minister Davlati Saidov for assistance.
“Unfortunately, over the course of the year, nothing has changed. A couple of times they paid us sums of 1,000 somoni, but now they have stopped doing even that. Everybody keeps talking about how the banks have been paid back such-and-such amount [by their debtors], but we see nothing,” Samadova told EurasiaNet.org.
Tajprombank bank’s administrators have indeed been scraping together some assets.
After depositors addressed their grievances to Saidov, the deputy PM, a businessman involved in the cotton industry, Jamshed Abdulov, was detained. Two companies belonging to him – Cotton Textile and Olim Textile – collectively owed Tojprombank 39 million somoni ($4.4 million). After paying off his liabilities in the form of solid assets, Abdulov was released on bail.
Another debtor who was picked up by the authorities was Ilhom Sharbatov, better known by his nickname Ilhom Komandir. He owed 13.9 million somoni (1.5 million USD). Another businessman, Turabek Kanoatov, who owed Tajprombank 826,000 USD, faced the same treatment.
The former head of Tajprombank, Jamshed Ziyoyev, is currently said to be busy selling off assets to help raise money for his clients.
President Emomali Rahmon pledged in his annual address to the nation in December 2016 that every last Tajprombank customer would get their money back.
During a press conference in January, Tajik chief prosecutor Yusuf Rahmon said that in 2017, prosecutors assisted the country’s banks in reclaiming 1.35 billion somoni (154 million USD) worth of previously unreturned debts.
Tajprombank also owes the Finance Ministry 117 million somoni (13 million USD) and the National Bank around 132 million somoni (15 million USD).
Under Tajik law, banks are required to address their liabilities to state bodies before paying back private depositors.
Meanwhile, according to National Bank data from November 29, Agroinvestbonk owes in depositors around 700 million somoni (79.5 million USD), while Tojiksodirotbonkk owes 904 million somoni (102 million USD).
