Where does the wife of the Prime Minister of Tajikistan get money to purchase real estate in Dubai?

Experts from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) as part of the Dubai Unlocked project have discovered documents indicating that the wife of the Prime Minister of Tajikistan, Kohir Rasulzoda, Ikbolkhon Nazirova (Ikhbolkhon Nazirova), owns real estate in Dubai.

According to these documents, Ms. Nazirova (Nazirova) owns two villas in Dubai, with a total value exceeding 1 million 436 thousand US dollars. The sources of the funds used to purchase the elite real estate are unknown. Investigators have established that the homes belonging to the wife of the Prime Minister of Tajikistan are located in the residential complex Mira Oasis 3 in Dubai.

This information became public on May 14, and the reaction of the Prime Minister of Tajikistan or his family is currently unknown. Previously, Ikbolkhon Nazirova (Ikhbolkhon Nazirova) worked in cultural institutions. When her husband held the position of chairman of the Sughd region, she managed the Palace of Culture “Kohi Rudaki” in the city of Khujand. At one time, she was also the director of the republican festival “Chakomae Gesu” (a competition for the best and longest women’s braid), which, according to the authorities, promotes the preservation of national values and the revival of national traditions and rituals.

When her husband received a new appointment and moved to Dushanbe, she also relocated to the capital, but there is no publicly available information about her current place of work. There is only a report from 2014 stating that Nazirova was the head of the cultural program for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tajikistan. This work was unpaid and temporary.

63-year-old Kohir Rasulzoda has been the Prime Minister of Tajikistan since November 2013. Prior to this, he served as the Minister of Melioration and Water Resources, chairman of the Sughd region, and a member of the Majlisi Milli of Tajikistan. He is married and has 3 children.

The OCCRP project Dubai Unlocked reveals information about the owners of elite real estate globally in Dubai. Journalists from more than 70 countries analyzed data from a leak concerning thousands of properties in Dubai. The documents primarily pertained to transactions from 2020 and 2022.

Overall, this research has shown how the largest city in the United Arab Emirates has become a convenient place for investment for hundreds of people, including individuals linked to governments, state corporations, and crime. “It took months to confirm the identities of the ‘heroes’ of the investigation,” the authors emphasize.

Tajikistan is a poor post-Soviet country that needs international assistance and support, and therefore the fact that Tajik officials and their relatives own elite real estate abroad cannot go unnoticed.

In 2022, OCCRP – the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project – reported that they discovered an account in the Swiss bank Credit Suisse in the name of Kosim Rohbar (Kosim Kosimov), the former chairman of the city of Gissar (prior to that, he held positions as head of the local development committee, minister of agriculture, and chairman of the Sughd region’s hukumat). According to data from the “Credit Suisse Secrets” investigation, the bank account held 8 million 883 thousand 230 Swiss francs ($9 million 642 thousand 458) from 2004 to 2011. The sources of these funds are unknown.

Earlier, in 2018, OCCRP found that the family of former head of the State Unitary Enterprise “Tajik Railways” Amonullo Hukumov spent over $10.6 million on real estate in two resort areas in the Czech Republic. Amonullo Hukumov’s wife and children own six properties in Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. The Hukumovs also own an apartment in Moscow worth $1.1 million.