DUSHANBE, March 19, 2015, Asia-Plus -- Izatullo Azizov, a chief specialist at the Committee on Religious Affairs and Regulation of National Traditions and Rituals under the Government of Tajikistan, was detained by officers from the anticorruption agency on March 18 on suspicion of bribe taking.

The video of Izatullo Azizov arrest was shown on Tajik national TV channel, Shabakai Avval (Channel One), yesterday evening.

Azizov was reportedly caught red-handed in Dushanbe on March 18 while taking 2,000 USD from a certain citizen for sending him for Hajj.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Azizov under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 32 – criminal attempt and Article 319 – bribe taking; an investigation is under way.

We will recall that President Emomali Rahmon as appointed his eldest son, Rustam Emomali, to head the country’s anticorruption agency.  Rustam Emomali was appointed as director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption on March 16.  Rustam Emomali had been running Tajikistan''s Customs Service since late 2013.