DUSHANBE, January 26, 2013, Asia-Plus — Director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, Fattoh Saidov, has said that killing of president’s relative could be hired by corrupt diggers.
“It is my purely personal opinion and I guess this as former police operative agent” Saidov told journalists on January 25.
According to him, relatives of Kholmumin Safarov, the 57-year-old husband of President Emomali Rahmon”s eldest sister, have run a goldfield in Shugnov (Khovaling district in Khatlon province) and they have prevented machinations and theft cases at the goldfield and some corrupt employees have even been fired.
Saidov further added that it could not be ruled out that the murder of Kholmumin had been hired by corrupt diggers.
We will recall that the Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced Dilovarsho Qosimov, who was found guilty of killing Kholmumin Safarov, to 26 years in prison on January 18. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of murder, illegal possession of weapons and polygamy.
The trial that was held behind closed doors at the pretrial detention facility of the Ministry of Justice began on December 24 and Dilovarsho Qosimov was insisting that he had nothing to do with the murder.
Kholmumin Safarov was found dead after being shot by unknown assailants on June 13, 2012. Police say Safarov was shot in the head, chest, and stomach. The shooting is reported to have occurred as he was returning to his home after evening prayers at a nearby mosque.
A native of Khatlon’s Vose district, Safarov, the brother-in-law of President Emomali Rahmon, had been serving as chief of the Tajik government”s forest and hunting agency.
Tajik law enforcement officials noted that Dilovarsho Qosimov, the suspect in the murder of Kholmumin Safarov was detained in Dushanbe on July 13. Tajik Interior Affairs Ministry officials said at a press conference that the suspect was detained following a lengthy undercover operation.
On November 26, the investigation into the murder of Kholmumin Safarov was classified as “top secret.”
