The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Hatlon Region reported on April 17th the arrest of two high-ranking officials in the Huroson district on charges of selling land plots, forging documents, official forgery, fraud, and bribery. The detained individuals are Muhammadziyo Bobokalonov, the head of the district's land committee, and Mukhimbek Bobokalonov, the head of the rural jamoat of Hiloli in the same district.
The two are close relatives - second cousins. Muhammadziyo was appointed as the head of the district's land committee and he, in turn, appointed his relative to his previous position as the head of the Hiloli jamoat. Acting together with the help of a local resident and mutual friend, Kudrat Djolmatov, they received bribes from citizens in exchange for allocating land plots.
For example, Abdulvokhid Khaitov from the jamoat gave them 8,000 somoni (over $700), while Boymurod Abdurasulov from the neighboring Vakhsh district gave 14,000 somoni (around $1,300). Others also paid substantial amounts. In return, each received between 8 to 10 acres of land. The Bobokalonovs also fabricated fake documents, including land certificates, leading citizens to unknowingly build houses on illegally allocated land.
Earlier, the Anti-Corruption Agency of the republic reported the initiation of a criminal case against the head of the Land Management Committee of Kulob, O. Murodov, for large-scale fraud involving illegal land transactions. In one instance, Murodov took 81,400 somoni from a citizen, promising to allocate 70 acres of agricultural land but failed to fulfill his promise.
Murodov, who worked as a leading specialist from 2015 to 2023 and then became the chairman of the Land Management Committee of Kulob in April 2023, faces a significant fine or imprisonment for up to 12 years. Illegal land transactions are considered one of the most common corruption offenses in Tajikistan.
