Sun, Mar 16, 2014
Switzerland's attorney general's office says it has opened a money laundering investigation against the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan's authoritarian president, Islam Karimov.
The office says its investigations into Gulnara Karimova, a glamorous and wealthy diplomat, pop singer and businesswoman, have also triggered new leads abroad, particularly in Sweden and France.
Swiss prosecutors said in the statement Wednesday they opened a criminal investigation in July 2012 initially directed against four Uzbek nationals in contact with the president's daughter, leading to the arrest of two of them in the summer of 2012 in Geneva and their subsequent release on bail in the fall.
The office says the alleged money laundering relates to the telecommunications market in Uzbekistan and seized Swiss assets in excess of 800 million Swiss francs.