Yusuf Tursunov, the head of the Navoi city landscaping department, was deprived of the right to hold office and sentenced to correctional labor. However, he was not fired until the Kun.uz inquiry. The official, who looted 1 billion 53 million soums from the state, was rewarded in accordance with the khokim’s order.
Under one of the articles posted on Kun.uz Facebook page on October 14, one of the users commented that Yusuf Tursunov, the head of the Navoi city landscaping department, remained in office despite a court ruling that deprived him of the right to work in official and financial liabilities.
Kun.uz then decided to explore the details of the matter. Unfortunately, the user who left a comment turned out to be right.
How did Yusuf Tursunov embezzle a large amount of budget funds with his accomplices?
In accordance with the court ruling, Yusuf Tursunov in 2019 conspired with the chief accountant of the department U.Khafizov, officials of “Paradise System Service” LLC and transferred a total of 997 million 50 thousand soums to the company’s account for the purchase of 690 street lamps (1 million 204 thousand soums each).
According to the expert opinion, one lamp of this type cost 384,000 soums. Thus, 690 lamps worth 264 million 960 thousand soums were bought and 732 million soums were looted.
Yusuf Tursunov continued his criminal activities, and the chief accountant of the department U. Khafizov, in collusion with the officials of “Immortal Grand Savdo Service” LLC, embezzled budget funds in the same “method” for the second time. This time, 700 Slatek LED Street Light-200W street lamps worth 384,000 soums each were purchased for 650,000 soums, and 650 Energomax EMX-0103/150W street lamps worth 272.2 thousand soums each for 480,000 soums. The amount of looted funds amounted to 321 million 220 thousand soums.
Yusuf Tursunov, the head of the Navoi city landscaping department, was found guilty under Article 167-3 (a) and Article 209-2 (a) of the Criminal Code by the Navoi City Court on March 4, 2021. Under Article 45 of the Criminal Code, he was deprived of the right to work in official and financial liability for 1 year and 6 months. The wrongdoer was sentenced to 3 years of correctional labor with 10% of his monthly salary withheld.
By the decision of the appellate court of the Navoi regional court on August 18, 2021, the verdict of the court of first instance was partially amended and the term of correctional labor imposed on Yusuf Tursunov was reduced from 3 years to 2 years and 7 months. The additional penalty in the form of deprivation of the right to work in the official and financial liabilities assigned to him remains in force without change.
Why did the person, whose right to be an official is restricted, remain in office?
It is noteworthy that the court’s decision to deprive Yusuf Tursunov of the right to work in official and financial liability came into force on August 18, 2021.
But he has remained in the position he has held since 2018. No one fired him.
More importantly, the Navoi city administration was aware of Tursunov’s sentence.
Speaking to Kun.uz, Jasur Aslonov, the head of the organizational and control group of the Navoi city administration, tried to justify Tursunov’s callback by saying that he had appealed to the Supreme Court.
The editorial board sent a request to the Supreme Court to clarify whether the execution of the sentence had been suspended. According to the head of the Supreme Court press service, Aziz Obidov, Tursunov’s cassation appeal was received and the case was accepted for consideration. However, no decision was made to suspend the execution of the sentence.
In fact, it was illegal for Tursunov to remain in office. Neverthless, on August 31, 2021, by an order of the Navoi city khokim Mukhiddin Bozorov, he was given a bonus equal to 1 month’s salary on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of independence.
It’s not hard to imagine how they felt when they witnessed the situation as employees of the landscaping department, which hadn’t embezzled billions from the state, but was not encouraged on the holiday.
Yusuf Tursunov has been relieved of his post. Will those who left him in office be punished?
While Kun.uz was investigating the matter, it was reported that Yusuf Tursunov had been relieved of his post as head of the Navoi city landscaping department.
The issue of liability of those responsible for allowing Yusuf Tursunov to hold office illegally for two months and paying him salaries and incentives from the budget will have to be considered.
