BELLINZONA, Switzerland — A high-stakes criminal trial has kicked off in southern Switzerland this week, with one of the most high-profile figures from Central Asian politics facing charges of coordinated bribery and large-scale money laundering, all while the defendant remains imprisoned thousands of miles away in her home country. Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of long-ruling former Uzbek President Islam Karimov, is being tried in absentia at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court, with proceedings scheduled to continue through May 22. Currently, the 53-year-old is incarcerated at a women’s penal colony in Zangiota region, just outside the Uzbek capital Tashkent, where she was transferred early this year to serve an existing sentence, making her physical attendance at the Swiss court legally and practically impossible.
Swiss federal prosecutors have laid out extensive allegations against Karimova, claiming she founded and led a sophisticated transnational criminal network codenamed “The Office” that involved more than 40 individuals and a web of front companies spanning multiple countries. According to the charging documents, Karimova is accused of moving hundreds of millions of dollars in illicitly gained funds into Swiss financial institutions and offshore accounts, and arranging for secure storage of cash, high-value jewelry and other stolen assets in private safety deposit boxes. The charges date back to the period between 2005 and 2013, when Karimova’s father was still in power; he led Uzbekistan for 27 years until his death in 2016. At the time of the alleged offenses, Karimova was working at a United Nations post in Geneva, a role that granted her diplomatic immunity from prosecution at that time. Swiss authorities officially indicted Karimova three years ago, alongside a former senior executive at the Uzbek subsidiary of a major Russian telecommunications firm.
Karimova’s defense team confirmed that Uzbek authorities have blocked her transfer to Switzerland to appear in court for the trial. “We will seek the full and complete acquittal of Gulnara Karimova,” Grégoire Mangeat, one of Karimova’s lead defense attorneys, stated in a written correspondence, confirming the team’s legal strategy for the proceedings. Local Uzbek media has echoed that Karimova’s presence in the Bellinzona courtroom is effectively out of the question given her ongoing custodial sentence in her home country. This is not Karimova’s first conviction: she was first found guilty of criminal charges in Uzbekistan eight years ago, and is currently serving a 13-year sentence on counts including running a criminal organization, extortion, and large-scale embezzlement, stemming from a series of domestic legal proceedings.
The trial also casts a spotlight on the role of global private banking in facilitating alleged illicit financial activity. In late 2024, Swiss prosecutors expanded their investigation to indict major Swiss private bank Lombard Odier and one of its former employees, alleging the institution played a “decisive role in concealing the proceeds of the criminal activities of ‘The Office.’” In an official response, Lombard Odier clarified that prosecutors do not accuse the bank of knowingly or intentionally participating in money laundering. Instead, the bank said, the claims center on alleged gaps in the bank’s anti-money laundering prevention protocols, allegations the institution “firmly contests and will defend in court.”
The case marks one of the most high-profile transnational corruption proceedings in recent European history, linking a ruling political dynasty in Central Asia to alleged financial wrongdoing within Switzerland’s legendary private banking system.