OCCRP: A Murder in Istanbul (Kuvvatov vs Sohibov)

The investigation, published by OCCRP as part of its “Tajikistan: Money by Marriage” project, recounts the March 2015 assassination of Tajik businessman and opposition activist Umarali Kuvvatov in Istanbul and the earlier loss of his company to the son-in-law of President Emomali Rahmon. According to the investigation, Kuvvatov was shot in the street after he, his wife Kumrinisso Hafizova, and their two sons became suddenly ill during a dinner at a fellow expat’s home and tried to leave for a taxi. His widow describes finding her husband dying from a single gunshot wound; he died before police arrived. The investigation states that Kuvvatov had been a mentor to Shamsullo Sakhibov (also transliterated Sohibov), who married Rukhshona Rahmonova, the third of President Rahmon’s seven daughters. The two men built wealth together selling fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan; Kuvvatov reportedly supported Sakhibov’s studies in the United States, where Sakhibov met his future wife, and endorsed the couple’s 2005 marriage to Rahmon. The investigation reports that after the marriage Sakhibov’s power grew and he wrested the company Faroz away from Kuvvatov, expanding it into a conglomerate spanning driving schools, steel mills, oil, gas and other sectors. Kuvvatov said in a TV interview cited by OCCRP that Sakhibov threatened him with drug-planting and jail if he refused to leave peacefully. Russian lawyer Nikolay Nikolaev is quoted saying that after Kuvvatov’s refusal authorities opened a case charging him with illegal acquisition of property, illegal detention and illegal financial transactions. The investigation notes that Kuvvatov was detained in Dubai in 2012, later moved to Turkey, and was seeking refugee status when killed. OCCRP interviewed his widow in exile, his Russian lawyer, and his nephew Sharofiddin Gadoev, himself on the run from the regime in Europe. Faroz did not respond to OCCRP’s requests for comment. Sources cited: OCCRP reporting, Edward Lemon (Harriman Institute, Columbia University), witness interviews, TV interview footage.