For years, the Abdukadyr family’s self-confessed money launderer sent their money abroad using a variety of invented pretexts. Some U.S. bank officers got suspicious — but the transactions continued.
President Mirziyoyev promised reforms and transparency. But among the top foreign investors pouring money into his new Uzbekistan are the Abdukadyrs, a secretive family who made their fortune on bribery and political patronage.
The Abdukadyr family earned hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to their alliance with corrupt officials in neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Now their trading business is booming in Uzbekistan — where President Mirziyoyev’s government has welcomed them with open arms.
Their trading monopoly, built on bribery and alleged smuggling, was exposed. But that hasn’t stopped the secretive Khabibula Abdukadyr and his relatives. With new political alliances and projects worth billions around the world, they’re more powerful than ever.