Companies close to the Family earned over 10 billion through benefits

A number of companies affiliated with close relatives of President Rahmon have been exempted from paying taxes and duties, earning over 10 billion somoni (almost 1 billion dollars) from this in the past year alone.

According to the national information agency of Tajikistan “Khovar,” “in 2022, the amount of utilized tax and customs benefits amounted to over 12 billion somoni. This included reductions and cancellations of the rates of 5 types of taxes, and in 2022, over 1.5 billion somoni will remain as support for the business entities.”

According to the Tax Code of Tajikistan, “Tax benefits are recognized as advantages provided to certain categories of taxpayers as stipulated by tax legislation compared to other taxpayers, including the possibility of not paying tax or paying it at a lower rate.” However, “Deferral (installment) of tax payments is not considered a tax benefit.”

The Tax Code also provides for “a list of priority sectors for which tax benefits are granted in accordance with the Tax Code of Tajikistan, and additional benefits according to relevant regulatory legal acts,” which includes 22 sectors, with the trade and business sectors mainly represented by companies controlled by family members of Emomali Rahmon or their relatives.

Experts believe that granting benefits for customs duties and taxes is good if this policy is based on a well-developed program and benefits are distributed evenly. However, to date, benefits are only received by companies directly owned by family members of Emomali Rahmon and their close relatives, or they receive a share of the profits from these companies under various pretexts.

Close associates of the president’s family have been benefiting from tax exemptions for many years. For example, the “Ismoili Somoni” hotel on Rudaki Avenue in the capital has been enjoying tax benefits for 17 years.

According to Radio Ozodi, the customer for the construction of this hotel is the Executive Office of the President of Tajikistan, and the contractor is the company “Ismoili Somoni – XXI Century.” According to the Asia-Plus agency, the director of the company is Rahmatullo Sa’dulloev, the brother-in-law of the president and brother of Hasan Asadullozoda, the chairman of “Orionbank.”

As reported by the media, “in March 2019, the Majlisi Namoyandagon – the lower house of the Parliament of Tajikistan – approved an agreement under which LLC ‘Amiri’ will be exempt from customs and tax duties for 10 years.” This company belongs to Zarifbek Davlatov, the son-in-law of President Emomali Rahmon.

Also, in 2022, “the government of Tajikistan exempted LLC ‘Marmari’ – a meat and poultry production company in the south of the country – from paying VAT and customs duties.” According to sources, the company belongs to the mayor of the capital and the son of the president, Rustam Emomali.

On December 30, 2020, the Parliament of Tajikistan exempted the company “Gaiur-Pak,” owned by Akbar Gulomov, the son of former Deputy Prime Minister Asadullo Gulomov, from tax payments, including VAT, as well as customs duties for 5 years. Akbar Gulomov is a native of the Danghara district – a fellow countryman of President Rahmon. Previously, other companies controlled by Gulomov, including “Huaxin Gaiur Cement” and “Huaxin Gaiur Industrial,” also received similar benefits.

Many companies owned by family members of Emomali Rahmon – in-laws, sons-in-law, or their relatives – have frequently benefited from tax and customs privileges in recent years. The head of the Tax Committee of Tajikistan stated at a press conference in August of this year that without these privileges, the state budget would have received an additional approximately 3 billion somoni (about 300 million dollars).

However, according to official statistics, while large companies owned by the president’s relatives are granted exemptions from customs duties and taxes, tens of thousands of small and new companies are collapsing under the burden of taxes and duties, going bankrupt and closing down.

Amrullohi Nizom, specially for Azda.tv