A bank employee in Tashkent province has been detained while illegally accepting $100,000, the State Security Service said.
The employee headed the department for mahalla-based and state programs at the Tashkent province center of one of the leading banks, the service said.
The employee is accused of demanding a total of $4.25 million from a buyer in exchange for selling a 16.05-hectare plot held on the books of the Kuyichirchik district administration and for arranging, through acquaintances among officials, the paperwork for 4 hectares in the administration's reserve. Lease rights to the 16.05-hectare plot had been sold in 2024 to the employee's father for livestock farming at an electronic online auction held by a territorial department of the State Assets Management Agency.
During an operation, the employee was caught with material evidence after receiving $100,000 of the demanded sum in advance. A criminal case has been opened and an investigation is under way.
In September, the embezzlement of a citizen's $300,000 deposit at a bank in Tashkent was exposed. In July, a bank employee and an accomplice who had demanded $420,000 from an entrepreneur in Tashkent were remanded in custody. In April, a bank official was detained with $40,000 in Andijan.
