There are a total of 44 defendants, including the former khokim and prosecutor of Andijan city, who are being tried in the building of the Fergana regional court on criminal proceedings. 15 of them are women.

An open trial of the criminal case against the former khokim of Andijan city Bakhrom Khaydarov, the former prosecutor of the city Kurbonali Askarov, the former head of the regional public education department Azizbek Mirkomilov – a criminal group of 44 people in total – continues. 34 of the defendants have been remanded in custody as a precautionary measure. Because of this, both cages in the courtroom were filled with defendants.

According to a Kun.uz correspondent who was participating in the open court session, the request of the defendants and their lawyers was satisfied. The presiding judge, A. Utayev, did not allow the process to be recorded in photos and videos.

According to the indictment, the group led by the former chief accountant of the centralized finance and accounting service of the Andijan city public education department and the former head of the Andijan region’s State Financial Control Department, the former prosecutor of Andijan city falsified documents during 2018-2021. They opened bank plastic cards in the Bunyodkor branch of Uzsanoatkurilishbank JSCB under the name of “dead souls” by issuing false payment records.

In this way, the group made illegal payments under the name of persons who did not work in the Andijan public education system, as well as employees who had already worked and were on maternity leave, without deducting from wages and overpaying. As a result, a total of 63.1 billion soums of budget funds were looted.

For example, A.A., who worked as a janitor in the school No. 20, was opened a plastic card under her name and 163 million soums were deposited into it. The janitor received her monthly salary in cash and did not know about the money on her plastic card. M.R., an accountant of the public education department, misappropriated this fund.

In addition, accountants of the Andijan region’s public education department opened similar plastic cards under the names of several other teachers. And the funds were made embezzled.

The court adjourned until September 19.