On October 16, French law firm FEDIDA ASSOCIES published a statement on behalf of its client, Kakhramonjon Olimov, a member of Anorbank’s supervisory board and owner of a 49.4% stake in the bank.
The businessman claims he was kidnapped and tortured in Paris in June 2025 and later subjected to a campaign of economic, legal and reputational pressure.
“Over the past eighteen months, my family and I have been subjected to a series of attacks which I believe to be criminal and unlawful. I am providing this statement to correct misinformation and give a true account of these events,” the statement said.
According to Olimov, he was abducted in Paris on June 24, 2025, held and tortured for two days, and then forced to pay a ransom for his release. He said that, following a French police investigation, five people had been arrested and were being held pending trial, while two others were under judicial supervision. He added that French authorities were preparing criminal proceedings and had rejected applications for bail.
“The most recent provocation has been the absurd issuance of an Uzbek Interpol Red Notice accusing me of kidnapping, whereas I am the victim of the kidnapping,” Olimov said.
He added that the notice had since been removed from Interpol’s website, denied the allegations against him and said he was challenging them in court.
Olimov said he trusted the judicial systems of France and Uzbekistan and was confident that those responsible would be brought to justice. According to him, the actions of those involved were damaging Uzbekistan’s reputation and ran counter to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s vision of “a modern and prosperous Uzbekistan that upholds the rule of law and welcomes domestic and international investors”.
What Happened
In late September, Uzbekistan placed Olimov on an international wanted list. A Red Notice was published on Interpol’s website, although the notice did not specify the grounds for the search. The notice later disappeared from the organisation’s website. A Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant; the decision to detain a person is made in accordance with the laws of the relevant country.
Olimov directly owned 99.4% of Anorbank’s shares but transferred a controlling stake to Dutch company Bekamin B.V. in December 2025, reducing his ownership to 49.4%. Bekamin B.V. owns a further 50% of the bank, while insurance company Kapital Sug’urta holds the remaining 0.6%.
Anorbank previously told Spot that the private circumstances of an individual shareholder were unrelated to the bank’s operations, capital, management or banking activities.
The Central Bank also said the situation surrounding the shareholder had no direct impact on the bank’s operations or financial stability. According to the regulator, as of September 1, the bank’s assets totalled 21.4 trillion soums, while its regulatory capital adequacy ratio stood at 13%, above the minimum requirement of 12%.
The English version of this material was generated with the assistance of AI translation tools and may differ slightly from the original text.
