MOSCOW: Uzbekistan has launched a criminal probe into President Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter in a move seen as a fresh blow to the once-powerful businesswoman ahead of presidential polls next year.

Gulnara Karimova, who combined careers as a pop star, fashion designer and head of charitable foundations, was once seen as a potential successor to her 76-year-old father, who has ruled Uzbekistan since before the fall of the USSR.

But that all changed last year when she disappeared from the public eye after openly criticising key officials on Twitter.

On Monday, the Uzbek general prosecutor’s office said that a woman named only as “G.Karimova” was a member of a “criminal group” and was being investigated. The prosecutors did not provide further details.

An activist familiar with the case confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that Karimova, who is believed to be under house arrest, was the focus of the probe.

“G. Karimova, mentioned in the statement is Gulnara, the Uzbek president’s eldest daughter — this is for sure,” the activist told AFP on condition of anonymity. “And it is 100-per cent logical, as the whole case which started early this year was against Gulnara.”

In July, an Uzbek military tribunal handed down hefty jail terms to over a dozen people believed to be associates of Gulnara Karimova, including the man thought to be her long-term boyfriend, Rustam Madumarov.

The people sentenced in July were Karimova’s “closest friends”, the activist said Wednesday.

They were found guilty of fraud, illegal currency transactions, money laundering and tax evasion.

“Obviously, authorities want to shed light on what is going on around Gulnara,” the activist said. “We would not have known the whole case if she was not part of it.”

In an ominous foretelling, the prosecutor’s office predicted no one would escape punishment following its probe.

“The strict observance of the principle of inevitability of punishment will be applied towards every member of the organised crime group following the results of the investigation,” it said.

‘Last nail in Gulnara’s coffin’

Karimova’s fall from grace has been swift and dramatic.

Her businesses, charities and TV channels have been shuttered. Western media last year reported that one of her associates, Gayane Avakyan, was connected to a massive money-laundering and corruption case involving Swedish-Finnish telecoms giant TeliaSonera.

The prosecutor’s office said Avakyan along with Madumarov had created an organised group that was involved in blackmail, extortion and falsifying documents between 2011 and 2013.

Karimova appears to have fallen victim to a campaign against her within the Uzbek elite as fierce jockeying intensifies ahead of presidential polls next year.

The 42-year-old, who has been dogged for years by allegations of money laundering in Europe, has accused Uzbek security service chief Rustam Inoyatov of plotting against her and seeking the presidency.

Karimov has not publicly named a successor, and his elder daughter has publicly renounced her presidential ambitions on Twitter.

Andrei Grozin, head of Central Asia studies at the Moscow-based CIS Institute, said the announcement of the formal probe against Karimova signified her opponents wanted to leave nothing to chance.

“This is the last nail in Gulnara’s coffin as successor and this is being done with the president’s approval,” he told AFP. “Her political career is over, whether her father forgives her or not is already not important.”

Alexei Malashenko, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, expressed bewilderment over the probe, saying Karimova presented no threat.

“She is alone. Her family does not support her — she is not in touch with her mother and she’s enemies with her younger sister.” Karimova has in the past accused both her mother Tatyana Karimova and her sister Lola Karimova Tillayeva of seeking her downfall.—AFP

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2014