Crossroads Asia | Politics | Central Asia

Swiss Karimova Corruption Case Discontinued

Karimova – already serving a 13-year sentence in Uzbekistan – wasn’t allowed to attend the trial in Switzerland and as such, the judges dismissed the case on procedural grounds.

Gulnara Karimova, the estranged eldest daughter of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, went on trial in absentia for corruption in Switzerland this week. But one day into the trial, on April 28, the court dismissed the case, noting that Karimova could not be present and that constituted a “permanent obstacle.”

As Swiss media reported, the Federal Criminal Court dismissed the case against Karimova and a second defendant, an Uzbek national residing in Russia. Proceedings, however, are continuing against a former asset manager at Lombard Odier, and against the bank itself. According to the Associated Press, Lombard Odier described the charges against it as centering on “organizational shortcomings in prevention measures,” not allegations of involvement in money laundering.

The Swiss judges, in reading their dismissal decision, noted that they had made efforts to have Karimova appear at the trial but had been unsuccessful. Officers of the court traveled to Uzbekistan, where Karimova is serving a lengthy prison term already, to meet with officials and discuss her participation in the Swiss trial. In January 2026, the Uzbek Supreme Court rejected the request.

The Swiss dismissal is, technically, procedural. Uzbek authorities would not allow Karimova to travel to Switzerland to face trial, and she is not set to be released from detention until December 2028 – by which time the charges in Switzerland will have succumbed to the statue of limitation.

The Swiss dismissal also illustrates the differences between a country that adheres to due process and one that doesn’t always, and the consequences thereof.

Karimova was first put under house arrest in 2014, when her father was still alive and ruling Uzbekistan. Her involvement in grand scale corruption had broken into international media beginning in 2012 and the embarrassment became too much for Karimov to handle. 

In 2017 – after Karimov’s death and the dawning of a “New Uzbekistan” under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev – Karimova was put on trial and sentenced to 10 years. The sentence was adjusted to five years of house arrest in 2018 but in 2019 she was taken back to prison. In 2020, she was put on trial again and sentenced to 13 years, with the sentence counted from 2015. 

In 2023, Swiss federal prosecutors filed an indictment against Karimova and others for alleged involvement in a criminal organization, money laundering, bribe taking, and forgery. The charges extended over a period of time running from 2005 to 2013.

Swiss prosecutors alleged that Karimova had developed a criminal organization, known as “The Office.” (Note: there have been more recent references to another shadowy deep-state-like organization called “The Office” in the opaque drama of Uzbekistan’s politics.) Operating in Switzerland since 2005, its purpose was “to conceal the capital originating from its criminal dealings in Swiss bank accounts and safes and by purchasing real estate.”

As I summarized at the time:

Swiss prosecutors allege that in the early 2000s, when Uzbekistan’s........

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