Gulnara Karimova | |
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Gulnara Karimova, photographed in 2009
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Uzbekistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva | |
In office 2008–2017 |
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Succeeded by | Bakhtiyor Ibragimov |
Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Spain | |
Succeeded by | Dilshod Akhatov |
Personal details | |
Born |
Fergana, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union |
8 July 1972
Mother | Tatyana Karimova |
Father | Islam Karimov |
Relatives | Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva (sister) |
Alma mater | Tashkent State Universityr/>Harvard University |
Gulnara Islomovna Karimova (Cyrillic Uzbek: Гулнора Исломовна Каримова; Russian: Гульнара Исламовна Каримова, Gul'nara Islamovna Karimova; 8 July 1972) is the elder daughter of Islam Karimov, the leader of Uzbekistan from 1989 to his death in 2016. Karimova is the founder of the Forum of Culture and Arts of Uzbekistan Foundation and chairperson of its Board of Trustees; she is also the head of a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focused on cultural and social aspects of life in Uzbekistan.
In 2015, an investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported that Karimova had taken over $US1 billion in bribes from Scandinavian and Russian telecom companies wanting involvement in the Uzbek market. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice seized $850 million that was funneled through corrupt deals by Karimova. Karimova is also under investigation in Uzbekistan on charges of corruption, although she denies any wrongdoing.
According to the BBC, Karimova was placed under house arrest in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in November 2014, and was rumored, according to Central Asian news reports, to have died from poisoning on 5 November 2016. In January 2017, Wall Street Journal reported that Karimova had been questioned in December 2016 over money-laundering accusations by Swiss prosecutors while she was under house arrest in Tashkent, according to a lawyer who attended the meetings.
Karimova graduated from the Youth Mathematic Academy in Tashkent in 1988. During 1987 she interned at the State Committee of Uzbekistan on Statistics. From 1989 to 1994 she attended Tashkent State University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree from the International Economics department. During her second year, she worked as a translator at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In 1992 she completed a course of jewellery design in New York's Fashion Institute of Technology.