More than 100 customs officers have been dismissed after attestation, Khurshed Karimzoda, the chief of the Customs Service under the Government of Tajikistan, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 30.
“As a result of the attestation, 118 customs officers, including ordinary officers and chiefs of departments, have been dismissed and 36 others have been demoted,” Karimzoda.
The attestation commission was charged by President Emomali Rahmon with assessing the professionalism of Tajikistan’s customs officers.
“The attestation commission members included representatives of President’s Executive Office, and we have no objections to the certification,” Karimzoda added.
Recall, President Rahmon last year sharply criticized activities of the Customs Service at a meeting with senior representatives of financial, tax and customs agencies that took place on May 10, 2019.
Rahmon called the chief of the Dushanbe-1 customs terminal, Shahboz Rajabzoda to stand up and then asked him how many homes and cars he owned.
Not waiting for an answer, Rahmon said: “Your sins are more numerous than the hairs on your head. Where have you worked that you weren’t fired? How they accepted you for this job is beyond comprehension.”
Casting a gaze around the hall, Rahmon said: “He doesn’t obey anyone, doesn’t even say hello to anyone.” And turning his attention back to Rajabzoda, Rahmon continued, “Did you descend from the heavens? Are you without sin? Do you not have any shortcomings?”
Rahmon ordered Rajabzoda to write a resignation letter and pay restitution for any financial damages he might have caused.
Rajabzoda reportedly made 16 trips to Europe during the one year and eight months he worked in the Customs Service.
And he started his work in the Customs Service's Internal Security Department (which has now been dissolved) as a lieutenant — allegedly because of his education — and within six months he had risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
