DUSHANBE, April 5, 2014, Asia-Plus – The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) leader Muhiddin Kabiri says he has document confirming that inspection of facilities belonging to him and his relatives, including the Sakhovat market located in the city Tursunzoda, has been incited by the State Committee for National Security (SCNS).

“Five or six companies, operating in trade and construction sectors, have been registered to my immediate relatives,” Kabiri told Asia-Plus in an interview.  “Even the farming unit of my brother in the Fayzobod district has undergone a thorough inspection.  Specialists from Dushanbe have inspected it and imposed an 117,000 somoni fine on it.  The construction firm owned by my other brother has been fined a total of several hundred thousand somoni.”

On the Sakhovat market, IRP leader noted that more than 700 people were working at that market.  “They are worried because many of them have taken loans to run shops at the market,” noted Mr. Kabiri.  “Why we should be responsible for illegal construction of the market? We have purchased a ready market and it means that we have not violated any law.   By the way, a thorough inspection has been conducted there as well.”

“If they decided to take the market from me and let vendors work at the market, they will show that the case is politically motivated and their goal is not to demolish the market but to take it from a certain person,” said Mr. Kabiri.  “I am ready to give up the market but on condition that working places will be kept.”

We will recall that the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption has reportedly instituted criminal proceedings against owners of the Sakhovat market located in Tursunzoda, some 60 kilometers to the west of Dushanbe.

According to official documents, the market is owned by Mastoura Rahmatulloyeva, the wife of IRP leader Muhiddin Kabiri.

The Tursunzoda city court is currently considering this case.

“The anticorruption agency claims that the previous owner of the market, Ms. Lutfiya Nematova, privatized that plot of land, in which the market is located, illegally,” Kabiri family’s defense lawyer, Buzurgmehr Yorov, told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, Muhiddin Kabiri and his relatives purchased that market in 2009.  “His wife Mastoura Rahmatulloyeva was registered as owner of the market and their relative was registered as director of the market,” Yorov said, noting that the Tursunzoda city court is expected to deliver judgment on April 10.

Representatives from the anticorruption agency have refrained from commenting on the situation demanding an official inquiry from Asia-Plus.

Meanwhile, IRP leader Muhiddin Kabiri has noted that the case is politically motivated.