TASHKENT – The mayor of Uzbekistan's eastern city of Andijon has been arrested on embezzlement charges, the spokesman for the Central Asian nation's Prosecutor-General's Office said on June 7.
According to spokesman Hayot Shamsutdinov, Mayor Bahromjon Haidarov is suspected of stealing 48 billion soms ($4.34 million) while he served as chief of the region's financial directorate before President Shavkat Mirziyoev appointed him to his current mayoral post in October 2019.
Investigators say 32 of 37 people who have been identified as suspects in the case have been detained. The case is being investigated by a directorate within the Prosecutor-General's Office tasked with fighting organized crime.
On May 28, Haidarov was stripped of immunity as a member of the city council.
In February, he was at the center of a scandal in which he faced accusations of misuse of power while allocating lands for local needs, allegedly causing damages estimated by the government of $153,000.