The Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption said yesterday Askar Nouralizoda, the deputy head of the Main Directorate for Investment and Development of Regions at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, was caught red-handed on September 28 while taking a US$490,000 bribe.  

Besides, investigators found 10,000 U.S. dollars in his home, the anticorruption agency added.

According to information posted on the anticorruption agency’s official website, Askar Nouralizoda requested a US$1 million bribe and a three-room apartment for his wife Savrinisso Kholiqova from a resident of the Jaloliddini-Balkhi district in exchange for including the development of poultry production in the district in the 2016-2020 state investment program.

That resident of the tJaloliddini-Balkhi district (the agency refrained from giving his name in the interest of the investigation) promised to give US1 million to Nouralizoda if he help him receive a US10 million grant for the poultry production development program.