AKIPRESS.COM - An agreement was signed in Tashkent on February 6 for the transfer of $182 million from the confiscated assets of Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan's first president, the country's Ministry of Justice reported.

The agreement was signed between the government of Uzbekistan and the Swiss Federal Council by Uzbekistan's Minister of Justice Akbar Tashkulov and Swiss Ambassador Konstantin Obolensky.

"Under this agreement, Uzbekistan will receive approximately $182 million. These funds were illegally obtained by certain Uzbek citizens and fully confiscated in 2012 as part of a criminal case initiated by the Swiss Attorney General's Office against G. Karimova," the Ministry said.

The funds will be channeled through the Uzbekistan Vision 2030 trust fund, established under the UN. The return mechanism was agreed upon in August 2022. The money will be used to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including poverty and hunger eradication, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, and economic growth.

In September 2022, Uzbekistan's Ministry of Justice reported that Karimova's illicit overseas assets totaled nearly $1.3 billion.

In May 2020, France returned $10 million to Uzbekistan. In September 2020, Switzerland signed a framework agreement to return $131 million. In February 2022, France returned another $10 million. In September 2023, $43.5 million from Karimova's frozen assets was allocated to a UN program aimed at reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in Uzbekistan.

With this latest agreement, Switzerland will have repatriated a total of $313 million from Karimova's assets, the Ministry added.