The political council of Uzbekistan’s ruling party has nominated a former deputy prime minister implicated in a telecommunications corruption scandal in 2012 to become the new prime minister.
With that show of support from the Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party, or UzLiDeP, Abdulla Aripov’s remarkable return from the wilderness is all but guaranteed.
UzLiDeP said in a statement that the council considered Aripov a patriot able to “fully take on the responsibility of successfully implementing reforms.”
The party’s political council gathered to consider the nomination on December 12. Under Uzbek law, the largest party in parliament, UzLiDeP, is authorized to put forward its proposal for the prime minister. All parties in the legislature are unambiguously pro-government, so the appointment should pass without trouble.
Aripov was returned to the fold following the announcement of the death in September of President Islam Karimov, who was quickly replaced by Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Returning to his old position as deputy prime minister, Aripov was charged with a portfolio including youth, culture, information technologies and telecommunications.
Aripov had served as deputy prime minister for more than 10 years, from May 2002 to August 2012. His main responsibility lay in the running of the telecommunications sector. From 2005 to 2009 he also ran the Uzbek communications agency.
He was fired by Karimov in 2012. In September that same year, the General Prosecutor’s Office filed criminal charges against Aripov on suspicion that he illegally issued permits to Russian mobile telephone company MTS to install hundreds of extra relay stations.
All shenanigans involving MTS in Uzbekistan have typically been linked to Karimov’s eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova. She was placed under house arrest by the security services in 2014, and little to nothing is known of her fate since that time.
It is not clear how Aripov managed to evade punishment, but it appears he may have enjoyed protection from Mirziyoyev, whom he had previously served in an advisory capacity.
With Aripov now looking destined for the prime minister’s chair, questions will persist about the fate of deputy prime minster Rustam Azimov, who many had linked with the job. Azimov is an important player and the kind of economic liberal that Tashkent will have to cultivate if it is serious about promoting foreign investment.
Being passed over for jobs near the top in Uzbekistan can have dual significance, however. By not holding a job as prime minister, Azimov could avoid speculation and distractions about his alleged clashes of authority with Mirziyoyev. Sitting at the head of government in a country going through troubling economic stagnation and possibly about to embark on root and branch reforms is perhaps not everybody’s ideal position.
But exiled Uzbek politician Pulat Akhunov said he believes that Mirziyoyev is committing a grave error by relying on reliable, but bland and unprepossessing functionaries like Aripov.
“Aripov’s nomination is a sign that Mirziyoyev will himself continue to fulfill the functions of the prime minister and that Aripov has been stuck there as a loyalist and an good executor [of orders],” Akhunov told EurasiaNet.org.
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