DUSHANBE, April 26, Asia-Plus — The top manager of the Dushanbe company M&P Marouf Orifov bears no relation to the Democratic Party (DPT), however, our party will defend him, a statement released by the DPT board on April 25 said.
In the meantime, a statement released by the DPT on April 21 already expressed concern about terms and realities of investing and investment climate in Tajikistan. An April 21 statement was justified by concern over the situation around successful businessman Marouf Orifov, General Director of company M&P, the owner of Orima Supermarkets Network, who was sentenced to 8½ years in prison this month.
According to Rahmatillo Valiyev, the Democrats are mainly concerned over the fact that criminal offences committed by businessman are detected only “after he became too successful.” “We are especially concerned because foreign investor has shares in this company,” Valiyev said.
The statement also said that under the present critical socioeconomic situation in the country, when more than 60 percent of food products are imported from other countries, destabilization of the investment climate could deteriorate living conditions of the population even more.
On the statement released on April 25, Valiyev said that they had released it to refute rumors that Marouf Orifov had allegedly sponsored them to interfere in his case. “We want refute these rumors,” said Valiyev, “Moreover, some media have released reports that Orifov is allegedly member of the Democratic Party.”
