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The head of a private company in Andijan region and a deputy official responsible for poverty reduction conspired to fabricate employment records for 837 people, artificially removing them from Uzbekistan’s social protection registry and cutting off welfare payments to dozens of genuinely poor residents.
A Marhamat district court found that A.A., director of Marhamat Agropilla LLC, and Sh.J., deputy head of the Marhamat district department for poverty reduction and employment assistance, collected the personal data of 837 people registered in the social registry without legal authorisation. Between May and October 2025, they entered false information into the national unified labour system showing that all 837 individuals had been hired by Marhamat Agropilla LLC, had worked there, and had each been credited with a salary of 6.3 million soums — none of which was true.
Poverty Figures Manipulated, Benefits Withheld
The scheme’s stated purpose, as established in the court verdict, was to artificially reduce the district’s recorded unemployment rate and shrink the number of citizens listed in the Unified Social Protection Registry. By appearing employed on paper, hundreds of residents were automatically struck from the poverty register. As a direct consequence, 78 people who were entitled to welfare payments did not receive them.
A.A. admitted guilt in court and expressed remorse, requesting leniency. The Marhamat district court convicted him under three provisions of the Criminal Code: Article 141-2, Part 2, clauses (a) and (g), covering violations of personal data legislation; Article 28, 205, Part 2, clause (a), covering abuse of official authority; and Article 28, 209, Part 1, covering official forgery. He was sentenced to one year of corrective labour with 20 percent of his wages to be deducted to state revenue. The court verdict was reviewed by Kun.uz.
The case illustrates a broader vulnerability in Uzbekistan’s anti-poverty architecture: because eligibility for social assistance is determined algorithmically through the labour registry, fraudulent employment entries can silently strip people of benefits without any direct contact with welfare offices. The district’s poverty statistics, meanwhile, would have appeared to improve on paper.