Bekhzod Bakhodirovich Akhmedov (Russian: Бехзод Баходирович Ахмедов; born 14 February 1974) was the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Uzdunrobita Uzdunrobita was the largest mobile phone operator in Uzbekistan in the 1990s and 2000s. Uzdunrobita was founded on August 19, 1991, as a joint venture between a group of American investors, the International Communications Group, with a 45% stake; ...

, the Uzbek branch of the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n telecommunication company MTS, until 2012. When Uzdunrobita's operating license was suspended by the government of Uzbekistan, Akhmedov left the country and since then has been wanted by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

. Akhmedov is a graduate of the

National University of Uzbekistan National University of Uzbekistan (NUUz) () is a public university located in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. NUUz is the oldest and largest university in Uzbekistan. National University of Uzbekistan is named after Mirzo Ulugbek. NUUz professors and teach ...

in economics.

CEO of Uzdunrobita — MTS's Uzbek subsidiary

In the aftermath of the financial and logistics management investigation of MTS-Uzbekistan in 2012, the General Prosecutor's Office of the

Republic of Uzbekistan A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

launched a criminal case against Uzdunrobita for

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

and avoiding other obligatory payments on a large scale, employment activities without license, legalization of proceeds from criminal activity and other crimes. It was ascertained that for the 2008-2012 period when the company was led by Akhmedov, it owes the government up to 418.266 billion UZS. Akhmedov illegally rendered goods, works and services for 306.683 billion soums (around $161 million) through regional branches. Through illegal mechanisms, Akhmedov managed to avoid taxes for 34.628 billion UZS (around $18 million). Akhmedov received bonuses in cash, and in 2012 was also presented with a

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

in the elite cottage village "Gorki-8" near the Rublevo-Uspensk highway in Moscow. On June 27, 2012, the Prosecutor General's Office stated on their website that investigation had found that staff of MTS-Uzbekistan had avoided taxes and broken other laws. Based on this investigation, Akhmedov was charged in his absence. On 13 June (in other sources 19), MTS President Andrey Dubovskov in a letter to the prosecutor stated that MTS had been drawn into doubtful and illegal schemes of money laundering and tax evasion, and accused Akhmedov and other managers of MTS-Uzbekistan of dishonest management. Dubovskov's letter stated that MTS's headquarters was concerned that Akhmedov had not been to work and was in hiding instead of explaining conditions and eliminating violations. Dubovskov requested that the Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan use international mechanisms to find Akhmedov. Interpol issued a warrant for Akhmedov's arrest. On 28 June, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that Akhmedov had escaped from

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

, where he and the vice-president of MTS Raspopov left for Moscow; therefore the Prosecutor General doubted MTS's willingness to cooperate in the investigation. On the same day MTS published a press release which accused Uzbekistan officials of making unfounded charges. Later, it became known that Akhmedov escaped Uzbekistan on 6 June 2012, when he left for

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. From there on 9 June he flew to

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, then to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, then on to Yerevan and then on 19 June left for Moscow, where he remains.

ТeliaSonera

In 2012 the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

mobile operator

TeliaSonera Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Telia also owns TV4 Media which includes TV4 in Sweden, MTV Oy in F ...

was investigated regarding possible bribery and corruption in Uzbekistan. Akhmedov was involved in the suspect transaction as the representative of

Gulnara Karimova Gulnara Islamovna Karimova (Cyrillic Uzbek: ; russian: Гульнара Исламовна Каримова, ; born 8 July 1972) is the elder daughter of Islam Karimov, the president of Uzbekistan from 1991 to his death in 2016. She wielded cons ...

. Harry Davies, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in 2021, said "An influential player in Uzbek telecoms, Akhmedov would later be indicted in the US for his alleged role in the bribery scheme. The status of that case is unclear. Akhmedov has denied any wrongdoing".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhmedov, Bekhzod 1974 births Businesspeople from Tashkent Living people National University of Uzbekistan alumni Uzbekistani emigrants to Russia