DUSHANBE, July 23, 2014, Asia-Plus – Shuhrat Qudratov, a lawyer for jailed former ex-Minister of Industry Zayd Saidov, faces charges of bribery, attempted crime and complicity in crime.
A statement, released by the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption on July 22, notes that Shuhrat Qudratov represented Amirali Sulamayev during his fraud trial in a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district.
According to the statement, Qudratov offered a bribe of 2,500 U.S. dollars to Judge Nizamov for bringing in an acquittal for his client. “Qudratov received 1,500 U.S. dollars from his client in front of the court building on July 18 at around 10:55 am and he received 1,000 U.S. dollars from Sulamayev in the same place on July 21,” the statement says.
Qudratov was reportedly detained by anticorruption officers on July 21 while he was taking 1,000 U.S. dollars from his client.
Criminal proceedings were instituted on July 21 under the provisions of three articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 36 – complicity in crime; Article 32 – preparation for crime or attempted crime; and Article 320 – bribery.
Qudratov is currently being held in anticorruption agency-run pretrial detention facility, an investigation is under way.
The statement also notes that Tajik attorneys committed 17 corruption-related crimes last year and 14 corruption-related crimes have been committed by them over the first six months of this year.
We will recall that Qudratov is the second defense lawyer for Zayd Saidov to be detained by Tajik authorities.
In March, Saidov’s defense lawyer Fakhriddin Zokirov was arrested for his alleged debts to a local bank. He is still in pretrial detention.
