‘A Dance With The Cobra’ : Confronting Grand Corruption in Uzbekistan

This report is grounded in the corruption investigative framework (CIF), a qualitative approach that employs bespoke units of analysis, that are twinned with a range of digitally enhanced tools designed to increase rigour. The report aims to: • Use novel data-analysis tools to systematically document the networks, transaction sequences, and commercial-political repertoires employed by Gulnara Karimova to establish and expand her Uzbek business empire, focusing on its illegitimate dimensions. • Employ the modelled data to critically examine the role(s) which state actors have played in facilitating, and confronting Karimova’s activities. • Document the transnational infrastructure used by Karimova to conduct her business activities, evaluating its criminogenic dimensions. • Examine the relationship between corruption and human rights abuses. • Consider evidence-based methods for identifying victims of grand corruption in Uzbekistan, and complimentary principles of justice that can help guide the return of seized assets.