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 telecom market was booming, “foreign companies that wished to enter and operate in this sector were required to pay bribes to Gulnara Karimova via companies in ‘The Office’, in order that she would intervene decisively in their favor.” Karimova, the indictment argues, “exploited her dual status as the daughter of the president and as an Uzbek public official, which allowed her to exercise unlimited influence over state officials when it came to allowing companies to enter and operate in the telecommunications sector.” 

Swiss prosecutors allege that in the early 2000s, when Uzbekistan’s telecom market was booming, “foreign companies that wished to enter and operate in this sector were required to pay bribes to Gulnara Karimova via companies in ‘The Office’, in order that she would intervene decisively in their favor.” Karimova, the indictment argues, “exploited her dual status as the daughter of the president and as an Uzbek public official, which allowed her to exercise unlimited influence over state officials when it came to allowing companies to enter and operate in the telecommunications sector.” 

According to Swiss media, despite the dismissal of the case against Karimov and the other Uzbek defendant – who cannot attend the trial because there is no safe way for him to travel from Russia to Switzerland in the wake of the Russian war in Ukraine and the suspension of direct flights – the Uzbek part of the case is not yet fully closed.

Per Swissinfo: “The question of Karimova’s funds remains. The Federal Criminal Court clarified that the question of a possible confiscation of these funds still needs to be resolved and will be examined during the trial.”

In 2023, when the indictment was filed, Swiss prosecutors said, “Currently, more than CHF 440 million [more than $500 million] in assets remains under seizure in the proceedings against Gulnara Karimova and the second accused.”

In 2022, Uzbek and Swiss officials had signed an agreement for the return to Uzbekistan of $131 million seized by Switzerland in 2019. It’s not clear how Switzerland will handle the remaining frozen funds now, given Uzbek recalcitrance to allow Karimova to participate in her own trial and its subsequent dismissal. The return of money accumulated on the back of corruption is a tricky issue, one several countries have or are navigating in relation to Uzbekistan and Karimova. 

In April 2025, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion that Karimova’s detention was arbitrary, while stressing that its opinion “does not function as a substitute for national judicial authorities, nor does it pronounce on the guilt or innocence of Ms. Karimova.” In essence, across the last dozen years of legal troubles Karimova has endured, her rights have been violated and she has been detained arbitrarily. For example, back in 2014 when she was subject to house arrest, she wasn’t presented with a warrant and didn’t go before a judge for 18 months. She was also denied access to counsel and other due process rights over the years, including the right to have her case heard in public and the right to appeal her conviction.

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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 telecom market was booming, “foreign companies that wished to enter and operate in this sector were required to pay bribes to Gulnara Karimova via companies in ‘The Office’, in order that she would intervene decisively in their favor.” Karimova, the indictment argues, “exploited her dual status as the daughter of the president and as an Uzbek public official, which allowed her to exercise unlimited influence over state officials when it came to allowing companies to enter and operate in the telecommunications sector.” 

Swiss prosecutors allege that in the early 2000s, when Uzbekistan’s telecom market was booming, “foreign companies that wished to enter and operate in this sector were required to pay bribes to Gulnara Karimova via companies in ‘The Office’, in order that she would intervene decisively in their favor.” Karimova, the indictment argues, “exploited her dual status as the daughter of the president and as an Uzbek public official, which allowed her to exercise unlimited influence over state officials when it came to allowing companies to enter and operate in the telecommunications sector.” 

According to Swiss media, despite the dismissal of the case against Karimov and the other Uzbek defendant – who cannot attend the trial because there is no safe way for him to travel from Russia to Switzerland in the wake of the Russian war in Ukraine and the suspension of direct flights – the Uzbek part of the case is not yet fully closed.

Per Swissinfo: “The question of Karimova’s funds remains. The Federal Criminal Court clarified that the question of a possible confiscation of these funds still needs to be resolved and will be examined during the trial.”

In 2023, when the indictment was filed, Swiss prosecutors said, “Currently, more than CHF 440 million [more than $500 million] in assets remains under seizure in the proceedings against Gulnara Karimova and the second accused.”

In 2022, Uzbek and Swiss officials had signed an agreement for the return to Uzbekistan of $131 million seized by Switzerland in 2019. It’s not clear how Switzerland will handle the remaining frozen funds now, given Uzbek recalcitrance to allow Karimova to participate in her own trial and its subsequent dismissal. The return of money accumulated on the back of corruption is a tricky issue, one several countries have or are navigating in relation to Uzbekistan and Karimova. 

In April 2025, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion that Karimova’s detention was arbitrary, while stressing that its opinion “does not function as a substitute for national judicial authorities, nor does it pronounce on the guilt or innocence of Ms. Karimova.” In essence, across the last dozen years of legal troubles Karimova has endured, her rights have been violated and she has been detained arbitrarily. For example, back in 2014 when she was subject to house arrest, she wasn’t presented with a warrant and didn’t go before a judge for 18 months. She was also denied access to counsel and other due process rights over the years, including the right to have her case heard in public and the right to appeal her conviction.

Catherine Putz is managing editor of The Diplomat.

Uzbekistan corruption

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