News spread on social networks that the hokim of Pskent District in Tashkent Region rented land for the amount of one trillion soums. That is, on September 6, the head of the Pskent district administration R.Rikhsiev won at the online auction to lease 397.9 hectares of land plot for a period of 30 years in Akhangaran District with a proposal of 999 billion 999 million 999 thousand soums.

Later, the hokim issued a statement on this matter, noting that he only wanted to see how the online auction works.

However, the study revealed that on September 13, the Animals Service Company, specialized in agriculture, was registered, the founder of which is R. Rikhsiev. And during the study on October 23, he kept his position as the founder of this company.

Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No.103 of March 6, 1992 ‘On the list of officials who are prohibited from engaging in entrepreneurial activities’ prohibits employees of public authorities from engaging in entrepreneurial activities.

Also, article 13 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan ‘On the State Civil Service’, adopted on August 8, 2022, establishes the rule that a civil servant is not entitled to engage in entrepreneurial activities (this Law will enter into force on November 8, 2022).

Based on this, the Anti-Corruption Agency submitted a statutory notice to the Tashkent regional administration to eliminate the facts of violation of the law and take appropriate measures.

It should be noted that the Anti-Corruption Agency systematically investigates corruption risks in the activities of civil servants, in particular cases of conflict of interest.

Thus, in September-October of this year, field studies were conducted in Bukhara, Samarkand, Jizzakh, Navoi, Sirdarya, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya, Namangan, Ferghana and Khorezm regions regarding cases of civil servants engaging in entrepreneurial activities.

Based on the results of the studies, it was found that in these regions, along with the civil service, a total of 1378 civil servants (138 hokims and deputy hokims, 148 state-owned bank managers and their deputies, 1092 assistant hokims) are engaged in entrepreneurial activities.

Also, during the study in the field of public procurement, it was found that enterprises owned by officials and their close relatives participated and won in public procurement.

In particular, in 2021 and for the first half of 2022 in Bukhara Region, out of 340 cases of public procurement for a total of 34.3 billion soums, in 19 cases - heads of organizations and their financial affairs deputies, in 72 cases - accounting staff, 24 - warehouse managers and security officers, 30 - engineers and technical inspectors, 20 lawyers who carry out legal examination of contracts and in other cases other employees acted public procurement executors (beneficiaries).

Similarly, in Surkhandarya Region, in 155 cases of public procurement in the amount of 16.1 billion soums, in 67 cases - chief accountants, accountants and economists, in 60 cases – office managers or warehouse supervisors, in 28 cases - heads of departments and other employees acted public procurement executors (beneficiaries).

For example, in the public procurement of the Single Customer Service Engineering Company of the Surkhandarya regional administration in 2021, a direct agreement was concluded with the company for the reconstruction of the building of school No.6 in Termez worth 8 billion soums, among the founders of which was a leading specialist of this company.

In addition, there were cases of affiliation and conflicts of interest in the concluded agreements in 277 cases of public procurement for 10.9 billion soums in Samarkand Region, in 158 cases for 8.1 billion soums in Ferghana Region, in 20 cases for 1.6 billion soums in Sirdarya Region, in 66 cases for 1.1 billion soums in Kashkadarya Region, in 14 cases for 0.3 million soums in Navoi Region.

The Anti-Corruption Agency submitted statutory notices to the relevant organizations to eliminate these cases and prevent their recurrence in the future, and the collected documents on the revealed facts of violations of the legislation in the field of public procurement were sent to the Prosecutor’s Office for a legal assessment.

The Anti-Corruption Agency continues to undertake measures aimed at preventing and eliminating the risks of corruption on the part of civil servants engaged in entrepreneurial activities.

Press Office

The Anti-Corruption Agency