Mysterious Wealth: The Wife of the Prime Minister of Tajikistan Purchased Elite Real Estate in Dubai

A journalistic investigation conducted by Azda TV in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that Ikbolkhon Nozirova, the wife of Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Kohir Rasulzoda, owns luxury villas in Dubai, UAE, worth several million dollars. The sources of this multimillion-dollar fortune are unknown, and journalists attempted to find out how the official’s wife was able to acquire elite real estate in Dubai.

This is a translation of an article published on the OCCRP website.

Mysterious Wealth: The Wife of Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Bought Elite Real Estate in Dubai

The Prime Minister of Tajikistan and his wife did not respond to journalists’ questions about how she could afford expensive real estate in Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates.

The wife of the Prime Minister of Tajikistan has no official income, and her husband is prohibited from engaging in commercial activities. Nevertheless, Ikbolkhon Nozirova owns several properties in her home country, and in Dubai, she purchased real estate worth about $1.4 million.
Like much else in this authoritarian Central Asian country, the source of the couple’s wealth remains a mystery. There are no free media in Tajikistan, where President Emomali Rahmon has repressed critical voices and concentrated power in his hands for the past three decades.

However, OCCRP and Azda TV, an independent media outlet in exile, managed to obtain registry data in Tajikistan indicating that Nozirova owns four apartments and a hotel in the Sughd region, where her husband previously held the position of regional chairman. She also has a house in the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe.

The leaked real estate data shows that Nozirova also purchased two villas in Dubai, in one of the United Arab Emirates.

There is no evidence that Nozirova has ever held a well-paying job or owned a profitable business. Her husband, Kohir Rasulzoda, has been a public official for 24 years, which means that under Tajik law, he is prohibited from engaging in commercial activities.

Edward Lemon, president of the Oxus Society analytical center in Washington, which specializes in Central Asia, notes that even in his current position as Prime Minister, Rasulzoda receives only a modest official salary.

Although Rasulzoda’s position as Prime Minister is “largely ceremonial,” Lemon notes that nevertheless, the spouses have good connections with the regime, which he described as “kleptocratic.”

“He had a mixed experience in government positions, and it seems he did not show much personal ambition regarding his growth within the very authoritarian political system of Tajikistan. Therefore, I think he was chosen as prime minister for these reasons,” said Lemon.

There is no evidence linking Rasulzoda or Nozirova to any corruption scandals; however, they did not respond to questions regarding the sources of their wealth and property.

From the Silk Road to the Emirates in the Persian Gulf

Nozirova’s aparthotel rents rooms to short-term and long-term guests in Khujand, the ancient administrative center of the Sughd region in northern Tajikistan, from where goods once traveled to Europe along the Silk Road. Today, Khujand is the second-largest city in Tajikistan, a country that the World Bank calls the poorest in Central Asia.

Founded about 2500 years ago during the Persian Empire, Khujand is very far from the gated communities and skyscrapers that have risen from the sands of Dubai in recent decades.

Nozirova is present in both countries.

Data leaks regarding real estate as part of the Dubai Unlocked project show that Nozirova purchased two villas located 200 meters apart in Mira Oasis III, a gated upscale community that features its own amphitheater, dog park, swimming pools, and volleyball court.

The value of one of the villas is estimated at $738,000, while the other can be sold for about $700,000. The purchase documents list Nozirova’s daughter’s phone number as the contact.

According to the leaked data, Nozirova’s daughter Farangis Azimova also owns property in Dubai. In 2011, she purchased a villa in the gated community Meadows. She was only 24 years old when she bought the property, which is now worth about $5.4 million.

Photo: Internet

Azimova, who is reportedly a fashion designer, is married to Zafar Azimov, a businessman and son of former Prime Minister of Tajikistan Yahyo Azimov. Junior Azimov is a co-owner of a private investment company that invests in manufacturing, real estate, and healthcare in Russia, Tajikistan, and the USA.

The couple appears to lead a luxurious lifestyle; according to Instagram posts, they often travel to countries such as France, Austria, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic. They did not respond to journalists’ inquiries for comments on this information.

“Uncorrupted Minister”

Although Azimova may benefit from her husband’s business activities, the available information does not indicate a lack of a significant source of wealth for her mother.

Nozirova is not registered with the Tax Committee of Tajikistan as an entrepreneur, which is necessary for conducting small business in the country. According to the trade register of legal entities in Tajikistan, until 2018, she did not own any companies. Nozirova headed a cultural center in Khujand, but it is unknown whether she worked in the commercial sector.

The media reports almost nothing about Nozirova, at least partly due to the situation with press freedom in Tajikistan, which Human Rights Watch has described as a continuing “suppression of independent and critical voices” in the country. However, a former employee of the press service of Rasulzoda, while he was the chairman of the Sughd region, published an article on his personal website praising the Prime Minister and his wife.

The article was published in 2020 and tells about the working trip of the regional chairman and his spouse to a rural area of the region, aimed at assisting local farmers in harvesting cotton. “I never thought that the wife of the regional head would come to harvest cotton and surprise everyone with her collection. She harvested cotton like a combine and was always at the forefront,” quotes the former press service employee one of the heads of a farming enterprise about Nozirova.

Kohir Rasulzoda’s career demonstrates experience in construction and design at a state enterprise before the start of his political career in 2000. In 2000, Rasulzoda was appointed Minister of Melioration and Water Resources.

Rasulzoda has earned a reputation as “the least corrupt Tajik minister,” wrote a former employee of the governor’s press service. Regarding his personal life, the article notes that Rasulzoda “married his first love” and that he and Nozirova raised three children.

“Besides being a kind woman and an exceptional hostess, Ikbolkhon (Nozirova) is also distinguished by an unstoppable desire to create beauty,” the article states.

Eldiyar Arykbaev (OCCRP), Firuzi Mahmadali (Azda TV), Mukhamadjon Kabirov (Azda TV)