The Agency for External Labor Migration reported that agency chief, Afzal Irmatov, was arrested by law enforcement agencies in connection with a criminal case being investigated against him.
As reported earlier, Afzal Irmatov had not appeared at his workplace since the beginning of the year.
Back in early January, the Central Asian News Service (Uzbek Service of Radio Liberty) reported that the State Security Service of Uzbekistan was conducting a criminal case against officials of the Agency for External Labor Migration.
“According to leaked investigation documents, a criminal case has been launched against officials of the External Labor Migration Agency under Abuse of power or authority charge of the Criminal Code.
Reportedly, at least three employees of the agency, including Afzal Irmatov, were summoned for interrogation on January 2.
One of the employees of the Agency for External Migration, on condition of anonymity, said that on January 3, the State Security Service conducted a search of the agency’s premises.
This is not the first case of criminal prosecution of employees of the Agency for External Labor Migration. In August 2019, the Tashkent City Criminal Court sentenced ex-director of the agency Ravshan Ibragimov, his former deputy Ulugbek Nazarov, former head of the department of the agency Alijon Abdullayev and ex-director of the Agency’s pre-departure adaptation and training center Ozod Makhsudov to prison terms of 11 to 12 years for bribery, fraud and money laundering.
