How Uzbek Paris Hilton became the most popular in the country and went to jail
'07.06.2018'
Source: Lenta.ru
The daughter of the Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov Gulnara is a diplomat, fashion designer, designer, songwriter, socialite, who owned luxury real estate in different countries of the world.
She was a member of the British royal family and was friends with the heads of state. However, one of the most popular and influential women in the world made an irreparable mistake, setting the whole family against them, writes Konstantin Dvoretsky for Lenta.ru.
Sweet life of Uzbek princesses
Immediately after the death of the president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov in 2016, the Western media calculated what his children had inherited. The published list has hit many. It turned out that his daughters, who are called princesses in the country, own property in different countries of the world. Gulnara Karimova has a big house in the center of London, a penthouse in the residential complex “Arch” in Hong Kong, three penthouses and two villas in a hotel Jumeirah Zabeel Saray in the UAE, purchased for 36,9 million dollars. Plot on the first line The palm jumeirahwhose value exceeds 13 million dollars, two apartments in a skyscraper Damac heights located in the area Dubai Marina in the harbor of Dubai. In addition, there is a country chateau in the suburbs of Paris, an apartment in the center of the French capital, a villa in Saint-Tropez, three apartments in Moscow, a country house on Rublevo-Uspenskoe highway, a two-story villa in Switzerland.
Her younger sister Lola has a less impressive list, but she also amazes with its magnificence. Western media started talking about it for the first time in 2013 after she bought the palace Le Palais in Los Angeles worth 58 million dollars. "A luxurious chateau with a swan lake, a Turkish hammam decorated with carved columns," - this is how the pompous palace is described Le Palais.
Too much ghouls
Glamorous Uzbek princess Gulnara during the reign of her father made a fortune. She was considered one of the richest and most influential women in the entire post-Soviet space. She accompanied members of the British royal family at high-profile events, was familiar with many world leaders.
In total, what Karimov did, and you cannot list: she graduated from Harvard, headed dozens of enterprises, was a fashion designer, a professional jewelry designer, released her own line of perfumes and clothes. At the same time she had black belts in a number of martial arts, spoke fluently in four languages, wrote poems and under the stage name Googoosha occupied the first lines of the charts with their songs. In the video for one of her songs, she starred with the actor Gerard Depardieu.
This woman never denied herself anything. This is how Craig Murray, the former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, once described her (Craig murray): “She’s a beautiful, but deadly villain from the James Bond films (...) Richer than Paris Hilton, undoubtedly smarter and possibly sexier, but I’ve met both of them.”
The diplomat recalls that during his work in the country Gulnara controlled the entire print and advertising market. At some point, the images of Karimova on the streets were met almost more often than photographs of her father. “She was everywhere: her songs were played on the radio, the image was adorned with giant billboards,” recalls the Los Angeles producer John Colombo, who shot the music video of the Uzbek leader’s daughter.
From socialite to dissident
Up to a certain point, it was believed that the eldest daughter of the President of Uzbekistan was an inviolable person. The chairman of many charitable foundations, the deputy foreign minister, the representative of Uzbekistan to the UN, the country's ambassador to Spain - she became the most popular and public figure of the entire Uzbek political elite.
In many ways, this contributed to the activity of the daughter of the Uzbek leader in social networks. Behind its page in Twitter followed both in Uzbekistan itself (its microblogging eclipsed in terms of its information content in local news media) and in the whole world.
Her Twitter Began to be called the leading Uzbek media. If earlier she discussed fashion, her appearance at various events and celebrations, she gradually began to criticize high-ranking officials (for example, she accused local security officials of “lawlessness”). The publication of various scandalous disclosures was considered a kind of promotion as a possible successor to the father. The microblog gave the impression of its “proximity to the people” and the image of almost a dissident.
However, when Gulnara Karimov was deprived of diplomatic immunity, it became clear that not everyone in the family is so rosy. The fact that dissatisfaction with the oldest daughter of the permanent Uzbek leader began to increase confirmed the interview of his youngest daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, to journalists. Bi-bi-si. Then many missed Gulnara in the chair of the president. However, her sister appreciated the chances of taking the place of her father as low. Lola also said that for more than 12 years, she has not communicated with Gulnara. The incident was then compared with the effect of a bombshell.
Fell into disgrace
One day, Gulnara published a post in which she denounced her mother as a friend of sorcerers, noting that she "wants to destroy everything connected with her daughter." Has got also to sister Lola. So, Gulnara wrote that she, too, could “burn life, like a sister, on her own yacht with coke”.
The enraged father took away the guards from Gulnara and forbade her to leave the country. It was rumored in Uzbekistan that the head of state took away his passport from his daughter. The business empire of the Uzbek princess, which included fashion boutiques, hotel business, jewelry salons, was under threat.
After this, blows of fate fell one after another. In Uzbekistan, four channels stopped working at once (Forum TV, TV-Markaz, NTT and SOFTS), which controlled Gulnara. After that, three radio stations broadcasting on FM frequencies ceased to work: radio Terra, radio "Zamin" and radio A'lo FM. They all belonged to the company. Terra groupthat belonged to Gulnara. The rest of the media were urged not to cover events related to the president’s eldest daughter.
In the campaign against her, she accused her mother, younger sister, father and Rustam Inoyatov, a former KGB officer, chairman of the National Security Service of Uzbekistan, one of Karimov’s advisers. However, this was only the beginning. Criminal proceedings were instituted against Gulnara on charges of corruption. Uzbek prosecutors arrested its assets in the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Latvia, Germany, Spain, Russia, Hong Kong, the UAE and Malta.
While the eldest daughter got involved in the corruption investigations carried out in the West, the head of state made a bet on the youngest one - Lola. For a year (until the death of the Uzbek leader), she was surrounded by three children and a loving spouse did not leave the television screens. Divorced Gulnara completely ceased to appear in public since 2014 year.
There were various rumors about where the daughter of the former head of state went. Conversations that Gulnara was no longer alive increased with the death of Islam Karimov: at his funeral in September 2016, the eldest daughter was gone. The truth became known only a year later - it turned out that, since the beginning of 2014, Karimov was under house arrest. In February 2014, Gulnara Karimova ceased to appear on Twitter; her account has been blocked. Officially about her House arrest not reported, but Islam’s son Karimova (after the death of Gulnara’s father in 2016) said that his mother wasn’t allowed to leave the house, although she was not charged. He said that they were going to kill her.
In 2015, Gulnara was detained, accused of corruption in excess of two billion dollars, fraud, hiding foreign currency and sentenced to five years of restriction. The star of the most odious woman in the post-Soviet space finally collapsed.
