72-Year-Old Man Sentenced to 8 Years for Demanding $500,000 Bribe

A 72-year-old man living in Tashkent has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for demanding $500,000 from an entrepreneur in Bukhara in exchange for "making a complaint go away." According to court documents, the individual—identified as H.Y.—posed as a senior official from the Presidential Administration and contacted the head of a limited liability company (LLC) in Bukhara. He intimidated the entrepreneur by claiming that the company’s operations were under investigation and alleging that allocated loan funds had been misused.

In his court testimony, H.Y. stated that he had offered to assist the entrepreneur, and the two met at a café in Tashkent on November 4, 2025. According to him, on November 5, the entrepreneur offered to pay to resolve the issue. In response, the defendant demanded $500,000, claiming he could use the funds to influence his superiors and settle the matter. The man was apprehended during a sting operation just as he had the entrepreneur transfer 10 million soums to his bank card. The Bukhara City Court for Criminal Cases found the defendant guilty of committing extortion on a very large scale and sentenced him to 8 years of imprisonment.