DUSHANBE, July 29, 2013, Asia-Plus — All charges the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption has officially brought against former minister of industry Zayd Saidov will be proved in court.
The anticorruption agency chief, Fattoh Saidov, stated this at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 29.
“While he was minister of industry, Zayd Saidov worked out an interesting scheme of privatization of enterprises subordinate to the Ministry of Industry,” said Tajik chief anticorruption officer. “Under this scheme, Zayd Saidov privatized 15 industrial enterprises. He first registered them in names of his friends, neighbors and distant relatives and then reregistered them in names of his wives and children.”
Fattoh Saidov also noted that Toj Sokhtmon Bainalmillal, a firm owned by Zayd Saidov and his family, had forged documents and stolen some 38 million somoni from Dushanbe municipal funds while constructing the city’s tallest tower, the 20-storey Dushanbe Plaza.
Asked about the minor rape charge brought against Zayd Saidov, the anticorruption agency chief said that there were testimonies of physicians, “who attended abortions the victim have had.”
We will recall that Zayd Saidov is now also charged with raping the 14-year-old girl.
Zayd Saidov, who is initiator of formation of a “New Tajikistan” party, now faces charges of large scale fraud, large-scale corruption and polygamy. He is currently being held at the SCNS-run pretrial detention facility.
Zayd Saidov was detained on May 19 on charges of corruption. He has been stripped of his parliamentary immunity. On May 22, a court in Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district issued the arrest warrant for Zayd Saidov. He was ordered held in pretrial detention. The court also ruled that Zayd Saidov cannot be released on bail.
The authorities have sequestrated property of Zayd Saidov and his nearest relatives. To-date, five cars belonging to Zayd Saidov and his sons as well as their houses have been sequestrated. Working premises and building sites have also been sequestrated but later they have been released.
On June 17, the investigation into the case of Zayd Saidov was classified as “secret.
Saidov denies any wrongdoing and says his case is politically motivated.
