Criminal case opened against Taftish.uz employees over fraud and defamation claims

According to official information from the Tashkent City Department of Internal Affairs, on January 16 Gayrat Aberaev, born in 1988, Azizjon Yuldashev, born in 1992, Sardor Khamidov, born in 2000, Marjona Eshquvvatova, born in 2006, and Dilshod Nishonov, born in 1998, were detained in accordance with procedural rules on suspicion of committing crimes provided for under Article 165 of the Criminal Code (extortion) and Article 168 (fraud).

“At present, their possible involvement in additional crimes provided for under Article 139 of the Criminal Code (defamation) and Article 244-6 (dissemination of false information) is also being verified. Reports that the Taftish.uz media outlet has been shut down are unfounded, and the publication continues its daily operations,” the department said in an official statement.

The Interior Ministry reiterated that the site’s representatives “formed a criminal group under the guise of a veil of justice such as public oversight and committed extortion and fraud.”

“Led by Aberaev, who turned criminal activity into a source of income, the criminal group not only deceived complainants but also demanded money from citizens by threatening to disseminate videos that discredit or otherwise shame them, or by offering to delete such videos after they had been published online. In other words, they took money from one side for covering submitted complaints and then demanded money from the other side to remove the prepared materials,” the ministry said.

It was noted that in November 2025, members of the criminal group A. Yuldashev and D. Nishonov, acting on the instructions of group leader G. Aberaev, prepared a video discrediting the administration of the “Chilonzor Goods Trade Complex” regarding a dispute between the market management and a citizen who had purchased a shop in the area, and uploaded it to the Taftish.uz YouTube channel on December 5. The conflict between the entrepreneur and the market administration had already been reviewed by the courts, which had issued a lawful decision.

“Taftish.uz representatives were well aware of this, but in exchange for money from the complainant the material was presented in a one-sided manner. After that, G. Aberaev, through one of the criminal group members, S. Khamidov, contacted the market administration and demanded 40 million UZS through extortion in return for deleting the video. In exchange, he promised to post a message on a Telegram channel stating that the situation shown in the video had not been confirmed.

“To disguise the extortion, the market administration was forced to sign a contract with Taftish.uz worth 40 million UZS. This task was assigned to S. Khamidov. As a result, 10 million UZS from the demanded amount was transferred to S. Khamidov’s bank card,” the statement said.

In addition, members of the criminal group M. Eshquvvatova, A. Yuldashev, and D. Nishonov in November 2025 prepared and published a video containing fabricated details about the activities of Black Plast LLC, which operates in Samarkand Region, in exchange for money from one party. While threatening to release two more videos about the company’s activities, they summoned the company’s director, H. Turaev, to the Taftish.uz office. They then forced him, in return for not releasing additional videos, to sign a written undertaking showing as if there were an outstanding debt under a 20 billion UZS contract between two entrepreneurs, obliging him to pay an additional 20 billion UZS within one month.

Encouraged by the entrepreneur’s apparent willingness to agree to large payments, the group demanded 60 million UZS and forced him to sign a contract worth 60 million UZS to disguise the criminally obtained funds. After the entrepreneur failed to provide the money within the specified period, following threats from criminal group member M. Eshquvvatova, A. Yuldashev and D. Nishonov published discrediting videos about the entrepreneur on their channels. Left with no other option, the entrepreneur transferred an initial 30 million UZS on January 8 this year to the bank card of one of the criminal group members in exchange for deleting the videos, and another 30 million UZS on January 12.

The ministry’s statement also outlines other alleged acts committed by those detained. It added that citizens who may have been harmed by their actions can contact the Interior Ministry’s Investigation Department at (71) 231-40-66.