KHUJAND, July 28, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Abdurahim Rasoulov, the ex-director general of the Zarya Vostoka plant in the city of Taboshar, Sughd province and a number of his subordinates have been detained on suspicion of having been involved in a large-scale embezzlement of state funds, Asia-Plus has learned from Jumanazar Rahmatov, the chief of the Sughd anticorruption directorate.

Rasoulov who is also member of the Taboshar legislature (Majlis) had served as director general of Zarya Vostoka since 2004.  From 1998 to 2004, he served as deputy prime minister of Tajikistan, deputy governor of Sughd province, deputy mayor of Chkalovsk, and mayor of Qairoqqum.

“Acting in collusion, Rasoulov, the plant engineer-in-chief Abdushukur Urazboyev and five other managers of the enterprise have embezzled 1,716,598 somoni (equivalent to more than 392,000 U.S. dollars),” Rahmatov said.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against them under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Pena Code – Article 245, Part 4 (large scale embezzlement or misappropriation) and Article 323 (service forgery).

Founded in 1968, Zarya Vostoka had been one of enterprises of the defense industry in the Soviet time.  Today, it is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Sughd province.  Zarya Vostoka now produces consumer goods.