Saturday, August 03, 2013
PARIS: French authorities are investigating a money laundering case that targets Gulnara Karimova, the Uzbek leader’s daughter, among others, a judicial source said on Friday.
The glamorous eldest daughter of Islam Karimov, who has ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Karimova was educated at Harvard and is closely watched as a possible successor to her 75-year-old father.
The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said a French probe was opened in February into “money laundering by an organised gang” and “corruption of a foreign official”, in a case allegedly involving Karimova.
The case centres around real-estate, including a villa in the south of France, added the source close to the case. Karimova has become the public face of her ex-Soviet country that borders Afghanistan, and until recently served as its permanent representative in the United Nations in Geneva.
The 41-year-old has denied any ambitions to replace her father. But earlier this year, she posted critical tweets of Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov — considered to be one of the most influential officials serving under Karimov — prompting speculation of a struggle between the two would-be successors.