Mega Asia Salt and Quartz mined 500 tonnes of coal at Kashkadarya’s Zarmas deposit using only a survey permit, sold it for 350 million soums, and uprooted 33 trees and nearly 3,000 shrubs while building a site road, causing environmental damage exceeding 480 million soums. Criminal charges have been filed.
Pavel Kim, 48, was detained in Tashkent region after 65 people alleged he lent small sums while forcing borrowers to sign notes for far larger amounts, then used those documents to extract court-ordered repayments.
