Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s anti-corruption “state of emergency” might have discovered its first vital goal in Bakhodir Siddikov, the previous head of Uzbekneftegaz. Uzbek media studies declare Siddikov has been detained and a main audit of the group launched.
Podrobno.uz reported on January 25 that Siddikov had been taken into custody “on suspicion of embezzlement of public funds and different corruption-related crimes,” citing an unnamed supply acquainted with the state of affairs.
Siddikov had served as the top of Uzbekneftegaz, Uzbekistan’s state-owned oil and fuel firm, since March 2023. Siddikov beforehand chaired Uzbekneftegaz from 2019 to 2020 and has labored within the trade because the early 2000s.
December noticed a culling of officers within the power sector, together with the December 16 dismissal of Presidential Consultant for Power Safety Alisher Sultanov, adopted by Siddikov’s substitute on the head of Uzbekneftegaz on December 17.
In early January, the heads of 4 oil deposits have been relived of their posts. The Uzbekneftegaz press secretary shared the information on Telegram, tagged with #reform, stating, “the heads of the Termez, Jizzakh, Marokand, and Kuchlik oil depots have been relieved of their positions for critical shortcomings dedicated in the course of the yr.”
Podrobno.uz reported that Siddikov and different officers from Uzbekneftegaz have been underneath investigation, although there was no official affirmation of the arrest or investigation.
Earlier in January, whereas being offered with the oil and fuel sector’s transformation technique, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reportedly made strict calls for that corruption, notably embezzlement, be eradicated from the trade. Uzbekneftegaz confirmed that they’d created the place of a deputy chairman and a compliance service, as required by Mirziyoyev’s renewed anti-corruption push.
Kun.uz reported on January 27 {that a} large-scale audit of Uzbekneftegaz was underway and that “multi-billion greenback embezzlement circumstances have been uncovered.”
Uzbekneftegaz is Uzbekistan’s largest state-owned firm and one of many nation’s largest taxpayers. Amongst different tasks, it owns and operates the Uzbek portion of the Central Asia-China fuel pipeline, together with China Nationwide Petroleum Company (CNPC. In 2024 Uzbekneftegaz signed a roadmap with Russia’s Gazprom Neft to additional develop their collaboration.
In October 2025, Siddikov met with a delegation from Boeing to debate expanded cooperation – together with the manufacturing of jet gas – on account of the September deal between Uzbekistan Airways and Boeing for the acquisition of as many as 22 787 Dreamliner plane.
In December 2025, Uzbekneftegaz signed a five-year lobbying take care of a U.S. strategic consulting agency and one in all its subsidiaries, UNG Abroad, signed a cooperation settlement with the U.S.-based company Cargill to “appeal to long-term financing within the quantity of as much as $3 billion, with the potential of growing the entire restrict to $5 billion” to strengthen Uzbekistan’s power safety.
In 2020, the Uzbek authorities unveiled plans for an enormous privatization push, with Uzbekneftegaz among the many state belongings slated for privatization. Though numerous studies lately have talked about plans for an IPO, that seems to have been pushed again to a minimum of 2028. In April 2025, the corporate issued a $850 million bond on the London Inventory Alternate.
For such a major state enterprise, allegations of embezzlement on the very prime are critical and will have appreciable penalties. As famous above, there was no official affirmation of Siddikov’s detention or the associated investigation. This can be a story to comply with intently because it unfolds because it goes to the guts of Mirziyoyev’s total reform push and renewed marketing campaign in opposition to corruption.
