“We also wanted to visit these sacred places, pray in the shrine. Everyone trusted him and gave money,” the victim said.

According to them, a specialist from the Committee on Religious Affairs has been collecting money since 2019. He collected 1 billion 650 million soums from almost 70 people.

“On the contrary, it turns out to be easier to travel through Turkish travel agencies, Kyrgyzstan. It is cheaper and easier. But we did not trust them, but trusted the civil servant. Roughly speaking, we have been deceived,” another victim said. 

One elderly man said that people used to save money for Umrah from their pensions.

“We have been collecting money for so many years. Why didn’t the administration control this process?” he said.

The current specialist of the Committee for Religious Affairs, who works in the building of the Khodjaabad district administration, said that the money had to be handed over to the bank, and not in hand.

“According to the law, after a citizen is included in the list, he must pay the amount in the bank. The former specialist personally collected money from citizens, it was a mistake,” he said.

When the case was taken to court, the suspect told the victims that he would return the money, but he did not keep his promise. The material damage caused was not taken into account in the court decision.

The man who committed fraud was deprived of the right to work in responsible positions for two years and imprisoned for 5 years.

“Almost 30 people got tired and said that they didn’t need this money and gave up. Another 17 people do not know what to do,” the pensioner concluded.