Gulnora Karimova’s attorney loses the case

An appeal made by Gulnora Karimova on the confiscation of around $ 700 million of the alleged total of 800 million Swiss francs (about $ 810 million), has been denied by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court.

The verdict was issued on July 31, according to media reports.
Karimova's appeal was put forward by her attorney, Gregory Manja, in Geneva.

"A claim against the confiscation of $ 701 million of the total deposited 800 million francs in Swiss accounts, has been lost," the report said.

Earlier it was reported that Switzerland could return Gulnara Karimova's money to Uzbekistan.

Anonymous sources state that there were several claimants for the money with the Government of Uzbekistan being the first one among them and the United States the second. Zeromax lenders did also ask for the money.

Arguing that Gulnara Karimova and her accessories used the US currency and the American banking system to do their dirty business, the US Treasury Department might take hold of some certain share. As for the Zeromax lenders, they have not yet been able to prove that it was Gulnora Karimova, the real owner of the company, so they have no opportunity to actually lay their hands on the money in question,” said the Swiss official.

The press service of the Prosecutor-General's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan affirms that the decision of the federal court on May 22 is that Gulnara Karimova's funds ($ 686.7 million) will be returned to Uzbekistan. The Prosecutor-General's Office cooperates with the Swiss side in this regard.

It should be reminded that Zeromax GmbH signed contracts with more than 20 Swiss companies to construct the Palace of International Forums and the “Bunyodkor” Stadium (now the National Stadium) in Tashkent. On October 28, 2010, Zeromax declared bankruptsy. European creditors have asked for the repayment of debts from Karimova's frozen assets. The total amount of debt was around $ 5 billion. The creditors asserted Zeromax’s real owner was Gulnara Karimova. Mirodil Jalolov, a former executive director of the company, is currently serving a sentence in a prison in Uzbekistan.

In the summer of 2017, the Office for Combating Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption of the Prosecutor-General's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan announced that two criminal cases had been started against Gulnara Karimova.

She was found guilty of a series of crimes by a Tashkent Regional Criminal Court in August 2015 and sentenced to five years in prison. Another criminal investigation is underway. Karimova denied all accusations.