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A Tashkent district court has convicted the former heads of two of the capital’s busiest tax inspectorates — Mirzo Ulugbek and Shaykhontohur — on charges ranging from extortion and embezzlement to abuse of office, with court documents detailing irregularities across tax operations worth a combined 22.7 billion soums.
The former chief of the Mirzo Ulugbek district inspectorate, identified in court papers as D.U., held the post from April 2022 until January 2026. In March 2025, prosecutors found, he approached a trader at the Navro’z farmers’ market and warned that inspections would intensify and heavy fines would follow unless the trader paid 200 dollars a month per shop — two shops in total — to keep auditors away. The payments were collected through the inspectorate’s own secretary.
Separately, D.U. rented six rooms in a state building assigned to the inspectorate to a private educational institution identified as “R.S.”, without a formal contract. He agreed a monthly rate of 15 million soums with the institution’s director and collected a total of 315 million soums between April 2024 and February 2026. None of that money reached the state budget accounts to which it was legally due.
A Catalogue of Uncollected Tax
Beyond the direct financial offences, the verdict catalogues a systematic failure to enforce tax collection. Fines applied to certain businesses were understated or not recorded, leaving 355 million soums unrecovered. Enforcement orders that should have been forwarded to the Compulsory Enforcement Bureau were never sent, allowing 2.1 billion soums in tax debt to go uncollected. In 228 separate cases, no asset-seizure measures were taken against indebted companies, leaving a further 19.8 billion soums outstanding.
The court also found that 3.3 billion soums in property and land tax owed by individuals, 11.5 billion soums in personal income tax, and 10.2 billion soums owed by 38 companies wound up through bankruptcy proceedings were never pursued. Across his tenure, D.U. failed to assess or collect 8.5 billion soums in land tax, more than 3.4 billion soums in property tax, 4.1 billion soums in dividend tax and 1.9 billion soums in turnover tax.
D.U. denied the charges. He told the court he had not demanded money from the trader and that any funds received from the shops had been directed to community work. He also maintained that rental income from the state building had been spent on repairs to the inspectorate’s premises rather than for personal gain.
The Shaykhontohur Case: Inflating the Revenue Plan
The former chief of the Shaykhontohur district inspectorate, identified as H.M., led that office from June 2019 until January 2026. His conviction centres on a scheme to artificially inflate the district’s reported tax revenue. Working with other officials, he redirected funds that had already entered the budget — reallocating them to cover the tax debts of other businesses, making the district’s collection figures appear stronger than they were.
During 2025 alone, more than 11.1 billion soums transferred by taxpayers registered in other districts, and more than 11.6 billion soums recovered by law-enforcement agencies, were recorded against the accounts of different taxpayers in Shaykhontohur — distorting the district’s fiscal picture.
H.M.’s tenure also produced a large volume of uncollected debt. In 1,388 cases involving 27 billion soums in tax arrears, and in a further 1,169 cases involving 8.1 billion soums, no enforcement action was taken. Property and land tax debts of 15.8 billion soums owed by individuals, 5.7 billion soums in income tax, and 5.2 billion soums owed by bankrupt companies were similarly left unpursued. Violations in calculating dividend tax (2.6 billion soums), income tax (633.5 million soums) and other levies were also recorded.
Sentences and Restitution
The Mirzo Ulugbek District Criminal Court found D.U. guilty under Articles 165(1), 167(3)(a) and 205(2)(a) of the Criminal Code — covering abuse of office, embezzlement and related offences. He was sentenced to four years and six months of restricted liberty, a three-year ban from holding positions of financial or official responsibility, and a fine of 300 times the base calculation unit, equivalent to 123.6 million soums. With 235 days already served in pre-trial detention credited against the sentence, his remaining term was set at three years, ten months and five days.
H.M. was convicted under Article 205(2)(a) and sentenced to three years of restricted liberty alongside a three-year ban from similar posts. His 225 days in pre-trial custody reduced the remaining term to two years, four months and fifteen days.
Both men were released from the courtroom. The court ordered that approximately 475.5 million soums held in court deposit accounts be transferred to the state.
The prosecutions trace back to a meeting chaired by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on 27 January 2026, at which Dilshod Usmonov — the Mirzo Ulugbek inspectorate chief later identified in court papers as D.U. — was publicly dismissed and a criminal case announced against him. At the same meeting, the Shaykhontohur chief Hojiakbar Mullajanov and the head of Tashkent city’s tax authority, Yunusjon Nasimjonov, were also removed and ordered to face legal scrutiny.