On 28 March 2025, the public attorney of Brussels requested the Central Agency for Seizure and Forfeiture (COIV) to transfer a total sum of 108 million dollars to the Belgian state account. This sum has been definitively forfeited in favour of the Belgian state.
Following an investigation in Uzbekistan into acts of corruption and illegal commissions in the awarding of telecom contracts, and money laundering thereof, the Brussels public attorney's office was requested in a request for international mutual legal assistance by the judicial authorities in Uzbekistan. Following this international official assignment based on the United Nations Convention against Corruption, 200 million dollars were seized in Belgium at the request of the Uzbek authorities.
This sum and the interest on it were then definitively forfeited by ruling of the Dutch-speaking court of Brussels. In accordance with the Brussels attorney's request, the court ruled that the criminal assets should be shared between the two states, applying by analogy a legal mechanism for the distribution of confiscated sums between two European Union Member States. A further 108 million will be paid to Uzbekistan under that ruling.
