Authorities in Uzbekistan started to tightly control the financial flows coming to country via transfer services like Contact, Migom, Western Union, Money Gram, Unistream and Solotaya Korona.
Starting September 15 of this year all money transfers coming to Uzbekistan from foreign countries, regardless its amount, will be thoroughly checked.
That means that transferred money will not be given to the recipient until they fill out the special form prepared by banks.
According to an employee of money transfer company located near Chorsu bazaar in Tashkent, a new method of controlling the transfers started in September. A recipient must indicate the name of sender and their address. The form must have information about who, where, and why sent the money.
Control of money transfers by services like Contact, Migom, Western Union, Money Gram, Unistream and Solotaya Korona was launched by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan. The information in special blanks is sent to law enforcement agencies, and there is put to data base.
Before introducing the new procedure, recipients were asked to submit a copy of their passport in order to take the transferred money. The information about the sender was not required.
New practice is causing concerns among population, since many people receive financial support from relatives working abroad.
According to local human rights activists, this practice introduced by banks is against the law and legal acts, and violates the right to secrecy of information about clients’ identity. This contradicts to Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Bank secrecy act and the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
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