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Gulnara Karimova: How do you solve a problem like Googoosha?
Source: BBC
16 January 2014 Last updated at 00:39 GMT
Gulnara Karimova: How do you solve a problem like Googoosha?
By Natalia Antelava
BBC News
A year ago, the daughter of the Uzbek president was riding high - a businesswoman, a pop star with a catchy name, she was even seen as a possible future leader. But over the past 12 months all that's changed - her businesses closed, her official positions snatched away. Can she bounce back?
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Tahir's story is a tale of extortion and blackmail, which started when Uzbek customs officials and later police, tried to take over a successful business he was associated with. Tahir's partners suffered too. Tahir went to jail where he says he was tortured and saw inmates killed by guards. Eventually he bribed his way out of prison and fled Uzbekistan.
Tahir's asylum lawyers say they have traced his troubles all the way up to Uzbekistan's most famous public personality - Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of President Islam Karimov.
Tahir's is one of many stories that won Karimova the reputation of being a "robber baron" - that's how US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks described her.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Gulnara Karimova: How do you solve a problem like Googoosha?
By Natalia Antelava
BBC News
A year ago, the daughter of the Uzbek president was riding high - a businesswoman, a pop star with a catchy name, she was even seen as a possible future leader. But over the past 12 months all that's changed - her businesses closed, her official positions snatched away. Can she bounce back?
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Tahir's story is a tale of extortion and blackmail, which started when Uzbek customs officials and later police, tried to take over a successful business he was associated with. Tahir's partners suffered too. Tahir went to jail where he says he was tortured and saw inmates killed by guards. Eventually he bribed his way out of prison and fled Uzbekistan.
Tahir's asylum lawyers say they have traced his troubles all the way up to Uzbekistan's most famous public personality - Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of President Islam Karimov.
Tahir's is one of many stories that won Karimova the reputation of being a "robber baron" - that's how US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks described her.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25742130