DUSHANBE, February 2, 2016, Asia-Plus – The Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption is investigating entrepreneurial activities of mutinous general Abduhalim Nazarzoda, also known as Hoji Halim, and the leader of the banned Islamic Revival Party (IRP) Muhiddin Kabiri.

“The anticorruption agency is currently inspecting twelve entities that were privatized by Abduhalim Nazarzoda and his relatives,” representatives of the anticorruption agency told reporters in Dushanbe on February 2.

The inspection has reportedly revealed that 8 entities were privatized illegally and damage caused to the state is estimated at 5.3 million somoni.   

The anticorruption agency officers have reportedly also revealed 43 residential and non-residential buildings belonging to Muhiddin Kabiri.     

We will recall that former deputy defense minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda and a group of gunmen under his control launched a predawn attack on the main police station in the Vahdat Township east of Dushanbe on September 4, 2015 and clashed later that day with security forces at a Defense Ministry building not far from the Dushanbe International Airport.  Nine police officers were killed and six others were wounded in those attacks.

Nazarzoda, his associate Colonel Junaidulloh Umarov, and several other gunmen then fled to the Romit Gorge, adjacent to Vahdat, where security forces were targeting them in a large-scale manhunt. Abduhalim Nazarzoda was killed along with 10 of his supporters during a battle in Romit on September 16.  His associate Colonel Junaidulloh Umarov was also killed.

Tajik authorities have said that mutinous general Abduhalim Nazarzoda, who was killed in a special security operation in the Romit Gorge on September 16, was allegedly linked to the banned IRP.

Tajikistan’s Supreme Court banned the Islamic Revival Party as terrorist group on September 29 on the basis of a suit filed by the Prosecutor-General’s Office.  The Supreme Court ruled that the IRP should be included on a blacklist of extremist and terrorist organizations.  The verdict forces the closure of the IRPT''s official newspaper Najot  (Salvation) and bans the distribution of any video, audio, or printed materials related to the party''s activities.

Muhiddin Kabiri remains in a self-imposed exile outside Tajikistan.