The Anti-Corruption Agency in Uzbekistan has revealed embezzlement of almost 1 billion sum within the "One Million Programmers" program. The agency scrutinized the rational spending of budget funds by the state institution "Ukuv Ta'lim-Taminot" under the Ministry of Preschool and School Education in the purchase of computers and other equipment as part of this program. It was found that the technical specifications of the computers did not fully comply with the requirements stated in the contract.
Field inspections were conducted in the Fergana, Namangan, Tashkent, Syrdarya, and Jizzakh regions, revealing discrepancies in the equipment's technical characteristics. The case documents were forwarded to the Department for Combating Economic Crimes at the General Prosecutor's Office. It was discovered that the company Smart Sales Leader, contracted by "Ukuv Ta'lim-Taminot," was supposed to supply additional technical devices worth 919.36 million sum, but failed to do so. These funds were misappropriated.
Criminal cases have been initiated against the officials of "Ukuv Ta'lim-Taminot" and Smart Sales Leader under the articles of the Criminal Code related to embezzlement and abuse of power causing significant damage. The preliminary investigation is ongoing. Smart Sales Leader, registered on February 18, 2021, with a charter capital of 200 million sum, is led by Alijon Sharafovich Nurullaev.
On December 29, 2021, "Ukuv Ta'lim-Taminot" and Smart Sales Leader signed a contract worth 25.55 billion sum for the supply of 3380 personal computers. The computers, intended for students of the "One Million Programmers" initiative, were equipped with six-core processors, 4 GB DDR4 RAM, 500 GB storage, 22-inch LED monitors with a resolution of 1920×1080, mouse, microphone, and headphones.
The computers were meant for students in Karakalpakstan, Bukhara, Kashkadarya, Navoi, Samarkand, Surkhandarya, and Khorezm regions. Smart Sales Leader had previously provided services to the Sanitary-Epidemiological Welfare and Public Health Service, selling 128 computers for 1 billion sum and 250 video conferencing equipment units for 714 million sum.
The "One Million Uzbek Coders" project, aimed at training a million local programmers in collaboration with the UAE, was launched in Uzbekistan in November 2019.
