Octobank: How a bank controlled by the Mirziyoyev family turned Uzbekistan into an offshore haven for Kremlin oligarchs
As Octobank in Uzbekistan underwent a change of ownership, some facts surfaced that the bank’s present owners prefer not to discuss. It’s hardly surprising — among these facts is the untimely death of one of the institution’s most important staff members.
Perhaps the death of the Director of the Marketing and PR Department, Temur Fikratovich Alimov, in 2023 at the age of 44, was a coincidence. But the sequence of events is as follows. Temur Alimov joined Octobank from the Russian Kapitalbank. The latter was owned by Alisher Usmanov and Andrey Skoch, Russian oligarchs with controversial reputations, who are part of the circle benefiting from and actively supporting the regime.
How is Alimov’s death connected to Usmanov and Skoch?
Of course, if we consider Alimov’s death solely in this context, there is nothing unusual about it – a person lived and then passed away. Bankers are mortal too. However, at the same time, the rebranding of Octobank and the change in ownership structure were completed. Octobank was previously called Ravnaq-bank, and the controlling stake in it belonged to Sarvar Fayziev. In 2023, the controlling stake in the bank ended up in the hands of Iskandar Tursunov, who had headed Ravnaq-bank for many years. After several transactions, his share now amounts to 97.2% of Octobank’s shares, and he continues to lead its board.
But until 2022, Iskandar Tursunov was one of the beneficiaries of Kapitalbank, which was acquired by Alisher Usmanov’s company “Telecominvest.” Andrey Skoch, who has an openly criminal past and is a deputy in the Russian State Duma, was also linked to the company. However, in 2022, to evade sanctions pressure, Alisher Usmanov sold his stake in “Telecominvest” in Kapitalbank, and it was Iskandar Tursunov who handled the sale. The stake was sold to Usmanov’s management, making the transaction purely formal. Nevertheless, it confirms the connection between Tursunov and Usmanov.
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The extent to which the late Alimov was involved in this process remains unknown, but the fact that he worked at Kapitalbank, owned by Usmanov and Skoch, and then moved to Octobank, owned by Tursunov, who is closely tied to Usmanov and Skoch, is unlikely to be a mere coincidence. Alimov’s death, in this light, raises questions. Especially when recalling Skoch’s past, as he was known in the 1990s as “Scotch” and was one of the leaders of the Solntsevskaya organized crime group.
Ravnaq-bank owner Sarvar Fayziev and Russian fuel
The former owner of Ravnaq-bank, Sarvar Fayziev, owned a chain of gas stations that sold Russian fuel. At the same time, Ravnaq-bank actively issued loans to shell companies, resulting in 80.5% of its issued loans being in the problem portfolio as of August 1, 2023. In monetary terms, this amounted to 212 billion out of a total loan portfolio of 263 billion, which was the second-worst result among banks in Uzbekistan, and Ravnaq-bank itself plunged into deep losses.
Octobank: How a bank controlled by the Mirziyoyev family turned Uzbekistan into an offshore haven for Kremlin oligarchs
On this backdrop, Ravnaq-bank was suddenly sold to a person connected to Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Skoch, with Iskandar Tursunov, a manager of Ravnaq-bank, becoming the owner of 97.2% of the shares. Ravnaq-bank was renamed to Octobank, while its former owner, Sarvar Fayziev, retained 1.3% of the shares, which he holds through the company Fortis Reserve System.
Against this background, another unusual thing for a normal bank occurred – all problem loans totaling 212 billion were simply written off. The standard practice in such cases is debt restructuring or transferring them to other banks or collection agencies, even at a significantly reduced price. But Octobank simply wrote off the debts. This confirms the fact that the so-called “problem loans” were a common form of money laundering and withdrawal from the bank, and the former owner, Sarvar Fayziev, was at least complicit. Whether this was the legalization of Russian capital from the trade in Russian petroleum products remains an open question.
Octobank, payment systems, and casinos
But there was more to come. After the change of ownership and renaming, Octobank became implicated in a scheme to withdraw money from the Russian gambling business. The money is funneled through payment systems that work with Octobank. Among the main clients mentioned is the casino VAVADA, whose advertisements have flooded search engines. The main money flows passing through the casino to Octobank, besides Uzbekistan, come from Russia, which is understandable given its huge gambling market.
Octobank: How a bank controlled by the Mirziyoyev family turned Uzbekistan into an offshore haven for Kremlin oligarchs
Octobank has been recorded in suspiciously active transactions with Russian banks such as “Promsvyazbank,” “Gazprombank,” VTB, MTS Bank, MIN Bank (merged with the state-owned “Promsvyazbank” in 2023), and “Russian Standard” bank. According to a message from the Telegram channel “Payment Shield,” this involves money passing through the VAVADA casino. The main flow of money from Russia uses Octobank to withdraw funds from Russian issuers.
Octobank and crypto exchanges
Octobank is also actively used to withdraw money from crypto exchanges. The scheme involves the company Environex, linked to the crypto exchange UzNext and the PayCrypto service, through which cryptocurrency payments and cash-outs are processed.
What’s interesting is that in connection with payment systems and cryptocurrencies, the name Dmitry Lee surfaces, whom many consider the real beneficiary of Octobank. He is the head of the National Agency for Perspective Projects (NAPP) of Uzbekistan, which, among other things, deals with the development of payment systems in Uzbekistan and, in particular, cryptocurrency turnover.
Octobank: How a bank controlled by the Mirziyoyev family turned Uzbekistan into an offshore haven for Kremlin oligarchs
In reality, Dmitry Lee is merely a technical worker serving the interests of the true beneficiaries of Octobank. He assumed this role due to his position, but Li is not just a simple executor – he is one of the key participants in the scheme to legalize and launder dirty and sanctioned money, including Russian funds, through Uzbekistan’s payment systems and Octobank, which serves as a critical link in withdrawing these funds to offshore zones. However, neither Dmitry Lee nor Iskandar Tursunov is the actual owner of the bank.
Beneficiaries of Octobank – the family of the President of Uzbekistan
An analysis of everything happening with Octobank against the backdrop of developments in Uzbekistan’s business environment after Shavkat Mirziyoyev assumed the presidency leads to the conclusion that the true beneficiary of the bank is either him personally or his family. The most likely owners of Octobank are named as Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s daughter, Saida, and her husband, Oybek Batyrovich Tursunov, who, in addition to being the president’s son-in-law, also serves as the First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Saida Shavkatovna Mirziyoyeva, his wife, works as the first assistant to the President of Uzbekistan, holding the highest position after the head of state in the presidential administration.
Whether Saida Mirziyoyeva and Oybek Tursunov are the ultimate beneficiaries of Octobank, or whether they simply hold the bank in the interests of the President of Uzbekistan, remains an open question. However, what is clear is that enormous sums of money from the sale of the country’s resources flow through Octobank. After the bank’s renaming, the formal change in ownership structure, and the write-off of problem debts, this flow was joined by, without exaggeration, colossal amounts of Russian money for the Mirziyoyev clan, which Octobank channels to offshore zones. The exact terms under which Oybek Tursunov and Saida Mirziyoyeva operate are unknown, but they are certainly not motivated by altruism.
While they earn billions of dollars for themselves, Uzbekistan risks falling under international sanctions for its close cooperation with Russia, whose money Octobank helps to launder. And as everyone understands, these sanctions will not affect the president and his family but the ordinary Uzbeks, who are already far from living in luxury.
Автор: Nikolay Gerasimenko