Crossroads Asia | Politics | Central Asia

Investigation Finds That Former High-Ranking Uzbek Security Official Acquired UAE Citizenship

According to a OCCRP and Ozodlik investigation, Otabek Umarov, the Uzbek president’s son-in-law, obtained Emirati citizenship in 2023, while he was deputy head of the Presidential Security Service.

In April 2023, when he was serving as deputy head of the Presidential Security Service, Otabek Umarov – Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s son-in-law – reportedly acquired citizenship in the United Arab Emirates. He’s also alleged to be the owner of around $7 million worth of Dubai real estate.

Those are the central allegations of a new investigation published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, Ozodlik.

Under Uzbek military law, which governs the position Umarov held at the time, holding a second citizenship is prohibited. Since acquiring citizenship typically includes swearing an oath of allegiance, many countries bar security (and other) officials from doing so – a second passport represents possible divided loyalties and a counterintelligence risk.

As OCCRP and Ozodlik reported, “Under UAE law, foreigners can only obtain citizenship through a nomination by a royal court or senior official, and [the process] requires swearing an oath of allegiance to the Emirates.”

Umarov was shifted out of his security service role in November 2024, in the extended wake of the assassination attempt on Komil Allamjanov. 

Allamjanov, at the time of the October 2024 attempt, had recently stepped down from his role as deputy head of the presidential administration. He has since returned to government service, as an adviser to the powerful head of the presidential administration, Saida Mirziyoyeva (the president’s eldest daughter). As of January 2026 he was also appointed to a seemingly bespoke role: advisor-ambassador and representative of the presidential administration in the United States.

Umarov, meanwhile, was named first deputy chairman of Uzbekistan’s National Olympic Committee – his father-in-law, the president, is the chairman.

According to OCCRP and Ozodlik, at some point in 2025, Umarov became the owner of 13 properties in Dubai, worth around $7 million. The properties previously belonged to his younger brother, Oybek Umarov, who purchased them in 2021 and 2022, according to leaked Dubai real estate data obtained by OCCRP. 

It is not clear precisely how or when they came to be listed with Umarov’s........

© The Diplomat