Odilkhon Ismailov, founder of the Rayhon Milliy Taomlari restaurant chain, has been released following an appellate court ruling, the press service of the Namangan Regional Courts reported.
In July, the Pap District Criminal Court sentenced Ismailov to eight years in prison on charges of embezzlement on an especially large scale under Article 167, Part 3(a) of the Criminal Code. His defense team appealed the verdict to the Namangan Regional Court.
The appellate court took into account several factors related to compensation for the damage. Part of the amount Ismailov was accused of embezzling had been deposited in cash.
The entrepreneur’s property is to be transferred to the bank’s balance sheet for subsequent sale to compensate for the damage. Other property belonging to him has also been allocated toward compensation.
The court ruled that the original prison sentence would remain unchanged. However, under Article 72 of the Criminal Code, Ismailov has been given a suspended sentence with a three-year probation period.
Ismailov, born in 1977, served as deputy chief imam of Tashkent from 2010. From 2011 to 2018, he was chief imam of the Shaykhantakhur district and imam of the Sheikh Zainiddin Mosque.
In July 2018, the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan announced his dismissal, citing the circulation of unverified information online and health issues that prevented him from performing his duties.
From 2019, Ismailov worked at the Vaqf charitable foundation. In February 2019, he also became imam of the Khoja Alambardor Mosque in Shaykhantakhur district, but left the position in September of the same year due to health problems.
Ismailov was detained by law enforcement agencies in January. He and five other individuals were charged under eight articles of the Criminal Code, including embezzlement (Article 167), fictitious entrepreneurship (Article 179), tax evasion (Article 184), violations of trading and service regulations (Article 189), and document forgery (Article 228).
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