DUSHANBE, September 30, 2008, Asia-Plus — Top managers of the tour operator Kholid Muzaffar have got long jail terms for deceiving 700 pilgrims last year, according to the Shuroi Adliya (Council of Justice).
A court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district on September 29 ruled that the Kholid Muzaffar head Nazarsho Haqnazarov, his deputy Fazliddin Ahliddinov and the tour operator employee Tavarali Kassirov be given jail terms of 12 to 13.5 years. The sentence followed their conviction on charges of illegal entrepreneurship, fraud, abuse of office and illegal currency manipulations.
The source at the Shuroi Adliya noted that last year, the company was illegally engaged in organization of participation of 700 Tajik Muslims in the Hajj. “They collected 2,500 US dollars from each of them, promising to organize their travel to Saudi Arabia,” said the source. “Kholid Muzaffar failed to organize their participation in Hajj, however, it did not return money, totaling US$150,000, to 60 persons.”
We will recall that the Directorate for Religious Affairs (DRA) within the Ministry of Culture (MoC) controls participation in the Hajj and other organizations are prohibited from being engaged in organizing the Hajj. The source at a DRA said that like last year, 5,000 Tajik Muslims will make the Hajj this year. The government continues to require air travel for the Hajj. Tajik pilgrims fly to Saudi Arabia from both Dushanbe and Khujand.
