A statement released by the Prosecutor-General’s Office says a court in Dushanbe’s Sino district has proved two more facts of acceptance of bribes by Askar Nouralizoda, the deputy head of the Main Directorate for Investment and Development of Regions at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT), who got a jail term of eleven years for taking a half-million dollar bribe.
According to the statement, Nouralizoda took 4,000 U.S. dollars and 25,000 U.S dollars from D. Olimov and Sh. Sanginov (both are residents of the Jaloliddini-Balkhi district) respectively in exchange for including the construction of greenhouse in the district in the state investment program.
“The court proved that Nouralizoda took 513,000 U.S. dollars and 32,000 somoni from the resident of the Jaloliddini-Balkhi district, N. Abdurahmonov, in exchange for including the development of poultry production in the district in the 2016-2020 state investment program,” the statement says.
Recall, a court in Dushanbe’s Sino district sentenced Askar Nouralizoda to eleven years in prison on January 10.
The sentence followed conviction of Nouralizoda on charges of extorting bribe and large-scale bribery (Article 319 (4) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).
According to information posted on the anticorruption agency’s official website, Askar Nouralizoda requested a US$1 million bribe and a three-room apartment for his wife Savrinisso Kholiqova from a resident of the Jaloliddini-Balkhi district (Khatlon province) in exchange for including the development of poultry production in the district in the 2016-2020 state investment program.
That resident of the Jaloliddini-Balkhi district reportedly promised to give US1 million to Nouralizoda if he help him receive a US10 million grant for the poultry production development program
Nouralizoda was reportedly caught red-handed on September 28 last year while taking a US$490,000 bribe.
