Another 29 people convicted on the case of Sardoba tragedy

Kun.uz received information about the completion of another court case on the causes of flooding in Sardoba. Reportedly, only 29 people were found guilty under Articles 167 (theft by embezzlement), 209 (official forgery), 243 (legalization of proceeds derived from criminal activity) of the Criminal Code.

Three defendants were sentenced to imprisonment. In particular, M.Kh., who worked as Deputy Director General of UE “Uztemiryulqurilishmontaj” – head of the construction department of hydraulic structures was sentenced to 10 years and 3 months, F.D., who worked as the head of the production department in the directorate for construction of hydraulic structures – 5 years with a fine of 122,650,000 soums, S.R., the head of the planning department for promising projects of UzGip LLC – 5 years in prison with a fine 133.8 million soums.

An 86-year-old employee of the planning department for promising projects of UzGip LLC is also among the accused. He was fined 400 BCAs – 68 million soums.

The rest of the defendants were sentenced to restriction of freedom, deprivation of the right to work in positions related to official and financial responsibility for a certain period, and fines. The maximum fine is 600 BCAs – 133 million 800 thousand soums.

Also, the court decided to recover from the defendants jointly and severally to the state income a total of 115 billion 811 million soums.

On May 10, 2021, a closed court session on the “Sardoba case” was held at the Criminal Procedural Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and a guilty verdict was handed down to a group of defendants.

It should be recalled that on May 1, 2020, a dam broke in the Sardoba reservoir of Syrdarya region, which caused a large-scale flood. As a result of the flood, settlements and crops in Sardoba, Akaltyn and Mirzaabad districts were damaged. Buildings, roads, communications were destroyed. More than 60 thousand people were evacuated from 22 villages in three districts.

According to official information, 6 people died as a result of the incident.