KHUJAND, September 14, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The Board of Directors of the Khujand-based Eskhata Bank has decided to give money back to depositors that have become victims of illegal actions of the former director of Eskhata Bank’s branch in Chkalovsk, Zulfiqor Azizov.  

“In all, there are 39 depositors on this list and the bank is giving their money back starting from today,” Furqat Hasanov, the head of the Eskhata Bank department for bank risks, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.  According to him, only depositors who have contracts signed by the former director of Eskhata Bank’s branch in Chkalovsk and sealed by the bank may receive their money back.

“According to the preliminary inspection, these deposit agreements are illegal because the funds mentioned in the agreements were embezzled by Azizov,” said Hasanov, “However, they confirm that Azizov received the money from them, and therefore, the bank has decided to give the money back.”

In all, some 200,000 U.S. dollars will be given back, he added.

As it had been reported earlier, the former head of Eskhata Bank’s branch in Chkalovsk Zulfiqor Azizov on July 15 left Tajikistan for Russia, taking along the money of a number of Chkalovsk residents.  That time, entrepreneurs from Chkalovsk, mainly employees of the currency exchange offices, said that Azizov owed large amounts of money to them.

Commenting that time on the situation, the head of the Eskhata Bank Board Khurshed Nosirov told Asia-Plus that Zulfiqor Azizov was sacked on July 13.  “Probably, he was doing currency transactions, escaping bank formalities,” said Nosirov, “Entrepreneurs showed hand-written notices of receipt written on ordinary paper, but these notices do not give them the right to demand that the bank reimburse their money.  It is the business of them and Azizov while the bank had nothing to do with that.”