Secret agreement and a million-dollar "share" – it is revealed that the former head of "O'zagrolizing" has been imprisoned
Nodir Otajonov, the former Chairman of the Board of "Oʻzagrolizing" JSC, has been sentenced to 6 years in prison. The criminal case is related to cotton harvesting combines imported from China. According to court documents reviewed by Kun.uz, Otajonov received a share of $1 million 180 thousand by ensuring the signing of an $8 million contract with a Chinese company for the import of 100 combines. Otajonov did not plead guilty to the charges.
Secret agreement and a million-dollar "share" – it has been revealed that the former head of "O'zagrolizing" has been imprisoned
It has been revealed that Nodir Otajonov, the former chairman of the board of "O'zagrolizing" JSC, has been criminally prosecuted. Along with him, Xaydar Abdushukurov, the founder of "Inter Agromash" LLC, was also tried.
According to the court document, Nodir Otajonov worked as the chairman of the board of "O'zagrolizing" JSC from November 24, 2020, to April 8, 2025. He devised a plan to import used agricultural machinery manufactured in China into Uzbekistan under the guise of new machinery. Through this, he aimed to obtain customs payment privileges and generate profit by selling the machinery to local farmers under leasing agreements at inflated prices.
In the spring of 2024, Nodir Otajonov established informal contact with representatives of the Chinese company "Xingiang boshiran Intelligent Agricultural Machinery Co.Ltd". He proposed that they refurbish 100 units of previously used and cheaper 3-row cotton harvesting combines to look like new 2-row "4MZ-2A" model combines, and deliver each of them to Uzbekistan for 80 thousand dollars.
He reached a verbal agreement that if they agreed to this proposal, in exchange for his commitment to sign the contract for importing the combines, a share of 15 percent of the total contract value would be allocated to him.
However, Nodir Otajonov did not have the authority to directly import cotton harvesting combines to "O'zagrolizing" JSC. Well aware of this, the chairman of the board partnered with Xaydar Abdushukurov, the head of "Inter Agromash" LLC, whom he had known beforehand. That is, he shared his plan with him.
Thus, they conspired to import the cotton harvesting combines refurbished by the Chinese company under the name of the LLC, sell them to local farmers at high prices under leasing agreements, and divide the customs privileges and sales profits among themselves.
According to the plan and based on Nodir Otajonov's instructions, on July 5, 2024, Xaydar Abdushukurov prepared a commercial proposal on behalf of the LLC under his management and sent it to "O'zagrolizing". The commercial proposal stated the delivery of 100 units of new "4MZ-2A" model cotton harvesting combines, each valued at 80 thousand dollars, to local farmers for 1 billion 650 million soums. However, these combines were actually old and refurbished, and furthermore, they had been modified from a 3-row 76 cm spacing scheme to a 2-row 60 cm spacing scheme.