Law enforcement bodies, as part of the anti-corruption campaign, arrested the mayor of Bekabad district of Tashkent province, Shukhrat Mirzaev in suspicion of embezzling funds, a source told the Tashkent Times.
Shukhrat Mirzaev became the Bekabad district mayor on August 7. Before his appointment, he worked as deputy chief of a Qishloq Qurilish Bank department in charge of accounting and reporting.
Several arrests took place earlier, notably the former Minister of Agriculture Aziz Voitov and a number of senior employees of the Tax Committee.
Corruption is rampant in Uzbekistan to the point that it became a system replacing the normal relations within law. Virtually every single affair, matter or problem can be settled through a bribe or an acquaintance.
Many officials get caught or get arrested merely because they somehow fall out of the system by failing to meet the demands of the higher authorities in terms of passing enough cash upwards from what they earn from down the stream.
