DUSHANBE, June 7, Asia-Plus  -- Mahkam Jourayev, a chief forestry officer at the Dushanbe Victory Park, has been detained on suspicion of having been involved in unauthorized allotment of land for housing.

According to press service of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, Jourayev promised a Dushanbe resident to assist with allotment of land for housing for $6,000.  The chief forestry officer assured that documents will be drawn retroactively.

Jourayev was caught red-handed when he was taking bribe.  Moreover, a large number of Soviet-time letterheads of legislature of Dushanbe’s Oktyabrsky district with appropriate seals and signatures as well as 16 blank passports of the republic of Tajikistan and small amount of narcotics were found in his house, the press service said. 

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Mahkam Jourayev under the provisions of Article 247 of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code – fraud, and an investigation is under way.