Bekhzod Akhmedov

On June 13, (in other sources 19) MTS President Andrey Dubovskov in his letter to the prosecutor stated that MTS was drawn in to doubtful and illegal schemes of cashing money and tax evasion, and accused Akhmedov and other managers of MTS-Uzbekistan of dishonest management Also in the letter it was stated that MTS’s headquarters was concerned that Akhmedov does not come to work and is hiding instead of explaining conditions and eliminating violations.

Therefore, the president of the MTS requested the Prosecutor General’s Office of Uzbekistan to cooperate and use available international mechanisms to find Bekhzod Akhmedov Afterwards, Akhmedov became a wanted by INTERPOL.

On June 28, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that Akhmedov had escaped from Tashkent to Yerevan, where he met with the vice-president of the MTS Raspopov and they left for Moscow; therefore MTS’s willingness to cooperate in investigation is under concern. At the same day MTS published their press release which completely differed from the primary position of the company. The press-release accused Uzbekistan officials of making unfounded charges.

When scandal erupted around entry of the Swedish mobile operator TeliaSonera regarding their work in Uzbekistan, Akhmedov was mentioned as a partner. Akhmedov was presented as an agent of the eldest daughter of the President of Uzbekistan. It became known later he was not her agent and used her name to achieve personal goals – was stated in Swiss economic journal Bilan.ch

In 2012, after the financial and logistics management investigation of MTS-Uzbekistan, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan launched a criminal case against “Uzdunrobita” on evasion of taxes and other obligatory payments on a large-scale, employment activities without license, legalization of proceeds from criminal activity and other crimes. It was ascertained that in the period 2008-2012 the company which was led by Akhmedov, owed the government up to 418.266 billion UZS.

Akhmedov illegally rendered goods, works and services for 306.683 billion soums (around $161 million) through regional branches. Through illegal mechanisms, Akhmedov managed to dodge taxes for 34.628 billion UZS (around $18 mln) Akhmedov received bonuses not only in cash, but also in 2012 he was presented with a villa in the elite cottage village “Gorki-8” near the Rublevo-Uspensk highway in Moscow. On June 27, 2012 the Prosecutor General’s Office stated on their website that investigation had revealed that officials of the MTS-Uzbekistan dodge taxes and violated other laws. Based on this investigation, Akhmedov was charged in his absence.

Later, it became known that Akhmedov actually escaped Uzbekistan on June 6, 2012 when he left for Kazakhstan. From there on June 9 on flight KC911 he flew to Istanbul and then to Paris. Afterwards, on flight 2560 he flew to Yerevan and then on June 19 he left for Moscow, where he stays until now.

Bekhzod Bakhodirovich Akhmedov (Russian: Бехзод Баходирович Ахмедов; born 14 February 1974) was the chief executive officer of “Uzdunrobita”, the Uzbek branch of the Russian telecommunication company MTS until 2012. Immediately after the scandalous suspension of the operating license of Uzdunrobita (MTS-Uzbekistan) Akhmedov escaped from Uzbekistan and since then has been wanted by INTERPOL.