DUSHANBE, August 6, Asia-Plus — The Supreme Court of Tajikistan today started consideration of criminal proceedings instituted against Alisher Nazarov, who is charged with being involved in a bead-stringing business that was set up in Tajikistan in 2003 as a pyramid scheme
The source at the Supreme Court said that Alisher Nazarov faces charges under a number of articles of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code, including illegal banking activity, fraud, abuse of power, etc. Nazarov was supervising the pyramid scheme in the Khatlon province, according to the source.
We will recall that the Dushanbe firm Jamal and Co in 2003 cheated thousands of Tajik citizens out of thousands of dollars through the pyramid scheme based on bead stringing, Reportedly, thousands of Tajik citizens became involved in the bead-stringing business, some selling their homes and cars in order to invest up to $10,000 in the purchase of materials. The finished strings were then to be sold to the firm.
The firm top managers were arrested in August 2003 on suspicion of tax evasion, money laundering, obtaining money under false pretenses and other financial crimes, and the firm was forced by the authorities to return to more than 1,000 investors sums of up to $1,000. According to the authorities, the funds were found in the company”s office when it was shut down and the firm”s top managers were detained. Those managers were subsequently been charged with obtaining money under false pretenses and tax evasion.
In October 2004, the Supreme Court sentenced the firm head Jamshed Sioyev to 20 years in prison, his deputy Zafar Kamolov to 8 years in prison and the firm chief accountant Vyacheslav Tsoi to 12 years in jail.
