The cotton deal that the Cork partnerships are linked to involves an Uzbek company, Mirzaobod Universal Trade Cluster LLC, that is 87.4 per cent owned by a senior Uzbek politician called Ulugbek Sotiboldiev.
As well as being married to the president’s daughter, Umarov’s brother, Otabek, is also the deputy head of the president’s personal security service. In his report, Lasslett said it did not follow from what he had disclosed that anything unlawful had occurred in relation to Orient, but he did argue that “serious risk factors” had been identified.
The Pandora Papers do not disclose what use, if any, Umarov made of the Dublin-based partnership. It was registered in November 2017 and dissolved a year later.The use of Scottish and Irish LPs “creates the appearance of a diverse range of foreign investors taking an interest in the economy of Uzbekistan whereas in actual fact in most instances they are vehicles being used by the political regime and its clients”, Lasslett told The Irish Times.
World Bank records show that in 2016 and 2017 three school projects in Uzbekistan, including one for the provision of books for pre-school libraries, were awarded backing totalling $494,902. The Irish registration was sought by Global Advisors, Bachelors Walk, Dublin, and the partners in Umada were stated to be Daniel Petkov Milchev, with an address in Belize, and a Belize company called Parecisia Capital Ltd.