A senior cash-in-transit officer at a branch of Dushanbe City Bank in Asht district, Sughd province has been accused of embezzling more than 3 million somonis, according to a statement from Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry.
The suspect, a 32-year-old resident of Asht district whose name has not been disclosed, allegedly collected 3.07 million somonis from ATMs and payment terminals in the district between June 27 and 30, 2025. Instead of depositing the funds into the bank’s account, he is accused of misappropriating the money for personal use.
Authorities have launched a criminal investigation under Article 245 (4) of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code, which pertains to large-scale embezzlement.
If convicted, the suspect could face a fine of up to 136,800 somonis or a prison sentence of up to 15 years. The investigation remains ongoing, and no statements have yet been issued by the suspect or his family.
This incident follows a similar case in Dushanbe earlier this year, where 36-year-old Shodmon Karimov was detained for impersonating a Dushanbe City Bank employee. He allegedly deceived residents at payment terminals by gaining their trust and promising to transfer funds on their behalf. One victim reported that Karimov took 2,000 somoni (about US$180) and then disappeared.
Dushanbe City Bank has been in business since 2007. It started as a macro credit deposit organization (MDO), with its core business providing. Today, Dushanbe City Bank has its own chain of more than 200 credit card terminals and more than 500 ATMs, or automated teller machines, across the country. The bank is now aiming for leadership in digital banking that responds to all of the current challenges.
Digital banking is part of the broader context for the move to online banking, where banking services are delivered over the internet. The shift from traditional to digital banking has been gradual, remains ongoing, and is constituted by differing degrees of banking service digitization. Digital banking involves high levels of process automation and web-based services and may include Application Programing Interfaces (APIs) enabling cross-institutional service composition to deliver banking products and provide transactions. It provides the ability for users to access financial data through desktop, mobile and ATM services
