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A district ecology official in Samarkand region has been sentenced to five years in prison after accepting a computer worth 11 million soums in exchange for burying an illegal tree-felling case and releasing an impounded truck.
The Jambay District Criminal Court found Zh. R., former head of the Jambay District Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, guilty under Part 1 of Article 210 of the Criminal Code — receiving a bribe — and handed down the custodial term alongside a two-year ban on holding any position involving organisational, administrative or financially accountable functions in state-linked organisations.
A roadside encounter that became a criminal case
The defendant’s own account, delivered in court, traced the sequence of events to 24 June 2026. Returning home along Gallakapa Street in Jambay District, he said he came across a group of men felling poplar trees, confiscated the truck driver’s documents and had the vehicle towed to an impound lot before drawing up an official report on the illegal logging.
The following day, a local resident appeared at his office and identified the tree-cutters as acquaintances. The visitor asked for help recovering the truck and offered 300 US dollars. Zh. R. told the court he declined the cash but suggested an alternative: the man could instead buy him a computer, which he said he needed for his work. The truck, he said, would then be released.
Prosecutors established that the computer set — an all-in-one desktop — was duly purchased and handed over, valued at 11 million soums. In exchange, Zh. R. had promised not only to facilitate the truck’s release from impound but also to drop the documentation on the poplar felling in the Zarafshan mahalla and to reduce the assessed environmental damage. In court he disputed the last element, insisting he had made no promise to lower the penalty amount.
Guilty plea, but a narrow defence
Zh. R. admitted guilt. His defence rested on the framing of the transaction: that he had asked for a work tool rather than personal enrichment, and had not agreed to manipulate the financial penalty. The court did not accept those distinctions as mitigating the core offence. The conviction under Part 1 of Article 210 covers the receipt of any material benefit by an official in exchange for actions within their authority, regardless of the form the benefit takes.
The case had drawn public attention when Zh. R.’s arrest on suspicion of bribery was first reported months earlier. The sentence, now confirmed by the court, closes a prosecution that illustrated how an environmental enforcement action — stopping illegal logging — became the leverage point for a corrupt arrangement worth little more than a basic office computer.