Why did the message about the detention of the director of the State Philharmonic become resonant?

The former director of the State Philharmonic of Tajikistan, Karamatullo Rahimzoda, rejected information about his detention on charges of misusing budget funds.

On July 9 of this year, media reported that Karamatullo Rahimzoda, the ex-director of the State Philharmonic of Tajikistan and father of the famous singer Sitora Karamatullo, was detained by anti-corruption officials on charges of embezzling hundreds of thousands of somoni in budget funds.

However, later that same day, Karamatullo Rahimzoda denied the information that had appeared in the media regarding the initiation of a criminal case against him and his detention.

Karamatullo Rahimzoda told the Asia-Plus news agency that he did not take any money. “When the new director of the State Philharmonic took office, he demanded a review of the financial activities of the institution. As a result of the audit, deficiencies in accounting and overdue financial documents were identified. I was called in as the former director of this institution, answered some questions, but no case has been initiated against me.”

Earlier, the Agency for State Financial Control and the Fight Against Corruption of Tajikistan published a message about the detention of Karamatullo Rahimzoda on its Facebook page, and later the publication “Poyomi Dushanbe” also posted about it on its Facebook page. Subsequently, Radio Ozodi, citing the “Poyomi Dushanbe” Facebook page, also reported on Rahimzoda’s detention. However, a few hours later, the Anti-Corruption Agency and later “Poyomi Dushanbe” deleted this post.

After the reaction of the ex-director of the State Philharmonic of Tajikistan, Karamatullo Rahimzoda was made public, the director of Radio Ozodi in Tajikistan, Salim Ayubzoda, also responded.

“In the publication of messages from state bodies, which allegedly ‘made a mistake,’ the media and journalists are not to blame. The message was received from a source, and the media published it. Now it is the responsibility of the source, that is, the state bodies, to officially explain the entire situation. Otherwise, there remains doubt as to why this message was deleted. Radio Ozodi was also asked to delete the message. A bribe was also offered for the deletion of this message. Who knows what happened behind the scenes? There is no smoke without fire,” he wrote.

The message states that Rahimzoda was appointed director of the State Philharmonic in February 2020, and together with chief accountant Bakhriiddinov S. and entrepreneur Yakubov Sh., forged documents to embezzle funds intended “for salary payments, cultural events, bonuses, and other expenses.” It was reported that Karamatullo Rahimzoda is accused of embezzling more than 830,000 somoni (over 78,000 dollars).

Karamatullo Rahimzoda replaced the famous singer Afzalsho Shodieva in this position in 2020. Prior to this, he served as the director of the music school in Dushanbe named after Miratullo Atoev.