Uzbekistan ranks as the world’s eighth most corrupt country, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
Experts say that virtually every aspect of life in Uzbekistan invites corruption. David Lewis, senior lecturer at the University of Exeter and a Central Asia expert, says, ”It’s a classic mix of opportunity—which is a lot of discretionary power for officials, very poor legislation, big flows of funds from foreign investment, non-transparent budgets, and a lot of laws which don’t make sense.”
Numberless reports on the country paint a dismal picture. Laws are contradictory, capriciously changed and unfairly enforced. Anti-corruption laws exist, but are mostly used to persecute the president’s enemies. There is no independent judiciary, and independent lawyers have either been fired or debarred, says Steve Swerdlow of Human Rights Watch in Central Asia.
Licensing a business is long and frustrating. Even if an applicant succeeds, the Uzbek government may cancel the registration of any business and withdraw its license. Lengthy “inspections” are non-transparent, and the government may harass businessmen and force them to pay bribes. And the government can forcibly take over businesses., There are multiple cases of foreign investors being having their profits stolen and being driven out of Uzbekistan, such as UK’s Oxus Gold.
While public procurement exists in theory, tenders can be easily secured by paying the right amount to the right individual, according to a public statement by former US Ambassador to Uzbekistan, John Purnell. Corporate public records and land registries are not available to the public and no assets declarations are required from government officials or their families.
With no checks and balances, corruption is nearly impossible to trace or react to. For example, there are no internal audits of public institutions
No international or local NGO watchdog organizations are permitted to monitor corruption in Uzbekistan. Whistleblowers get no protections. Citizens, even senior governmental officials, need exit visas to travel abroad, which requires presidential permission. The country does not participate in any notable local or regional anti-corruption initiatives, and though it has periodically joined international anti-corruption initiatives, it has never followed through on them. There are no activists, a nominal parliament only, and no political parties.
In a 2014 report, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) ranked Uzbekistan 166th out of 180 countries for press freedom. The organization’s index is based on six criteria: pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and infrastructure. Freedom House ranked Uzbekistan among the 10 countries with the lowest possible rating for both political rights and civil liberties in the world, describing its media as “not free.”
Media in Uzbekistan is state-controlled. There is virtually no indigenous independent media, and all foreign media have been forced out over the last decade.
Human Rights Watch runs out of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, an arrangement Swerdlow says is “extremely frustrating and difficult, because there’s a lot of misinformation. Even if you’re [in the country], as a whole the society is so controlled and under so much surveillance and monitoring, that it’s difficult to move freely, and it’s impossible to verify facts with authorities.’’ It’s [also] very difficult to monitor and collect testimony. There’s no free media. There’s a few dissident journalists underground; they’re under an incredible amount of pressure and also often get [things] wrong because they also are cut off.”
Ex-UK ambassador Lewis compares Uzbekistan’s fight against corruption to “sort of Chinese-style anti-corruption campaigns where you arrest people in high positions but you don’t really fix the system that produces this problem.”