Head of Rasht District Detained

The head of the Rasht district and the head of the district executive apparatus have been detained on suspicion of corruption.

Photo: Internet

The head of the Rasht district, Mukimi Rahimjon Nabizoda, and the head of the district apparatus, Kholmukhammad Ortikov, are suspected of illegally allocating land plots and receiving bribes. The officials were detained by employees of the State Financial Control and Anti-Corruption Agency of Tajikistan in their offices in the presence of witnesses.

“The agency received a complaint that the head of the district was selling land plots and illegally providing entrepreneurs with plots for construction in the center of the district. A fact of illegal land allocation was previously identified, and now the head of the district was detained while receiving a bribe of 10 thousand dollars. The bribe was to be handed over to him by an intermediary – the head of the district executive apparatus. Both officials were detained during the bribe transfer,” a source from Radio Ozodi in the anti-corruption agency reported.

At the same time, the portal Isloh.net, citing its sources, reports that “currently Mukimi Rahimjon Nabizoda is a deputy of the Majlisi milli Majlisi Oli (lower house of parliament) of Tajikistan and has immunity status, and only after the cancellation of his powers and immunity status by the parliament will preventive measures be taken. Therefore, it is expected that an emergency session of parliament will be held in the coming days.”

So far, official authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the fact of the detention of the head of the Rasht district and his subordinate.

61-year-old Rahimjon Nabizoda has held the position of head of the Rasht district since 2019. Previously, he worked as the head of the district’s financial department and as the first deputy head of the Rasht district.

Despite numerous complaints from residents, heads of cities and districts in Tajikistan are rarely held accountable. In most cases, even if a city or district head is detained, the official is either acquitted or instead of corruption, is accused of exceeding official powers.

Only Bakhram Inoyatzoda, the former mayor of Kulob, was detained in 2020 on corruption charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison for criticizing the president’s relative, Beg Sabur.

Employees of the anti-corruption agency in Tajikistan mostly detain teachers, doctors, and lower-level officials from ministries and state committees.