A man has been detained in Tashkent on suspicion of demanding $840,000 for promising to arrange the paperwork for housing construction on a plot of land, the Interior Ministry said.
The suspect, born in 1970 in Khorezm province, owns several construction materials trading companies, the ministry said. He allegedly promised a citizen who approached him for help that housing construction on 4 hectares of a 9-hectare non-residential property in Bostonliq district, Tashkent province, would be formally documented.
He allegedly said he would bribe acquaintances who work as officials at the Cadastre Agency to have the construction documented and to obtain future building permits for the area. He demanded $100,000 at first and another $740,000 later, the ministry said.
Officers of the ministry’s Operational Search Department detained him with material evidence in a restaurant in Yunusabad district as he accepted the initial $100,000, it said.
A criminal case has been opened under Article 168, Part 4 (Fraud) and Articles 28 and 211, Part 3 (Bribery) of the Criminal Code.
It was previously reported that people who promised a citizen they would obtain 2 hectares of land had been detained in Surkhandarya.
