TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, December 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Huntsman-Lewis are pleased to announce the re-opening of our Tashkent office, following the conviction of Akbarali Abdullayev and the breaking up of the organised crime ring linked to him.
The firm is re-opening its Tashkent office in January, with two partners - Greg Huntsman and Paul Lewis - returning to work inside Uzbekistan. The firm is actively seeking lawyers who want to develop a practice in Central Asia.
Over the last five years Huntsman-Lewis has been at the forefront of private enforcement and has been responsible for bringing some of the largest and most high-profile claims to the Uzbek courts, especially in the realm of using international civil law to obtain redress for clients.
Paul Lewis, the partner who heads the firm's Uzbek team, said:
"Since we were threatened by the Abdullayev crime syndicate last year, we have continued to advise Western clients on Uzbek-related matters on 'neutral soil' in London, and have worked to develop contracts between Western multinationals and Tashkent's telecoms, banking and oil sectors.
"We've also tried to represent the interests of our Uzbek clients, without any staff directly on the ground - however, this has proved difficult, especially in pushing forward the fraud charges against Akbarali Abdullayev and his associates. As he is now behind bars for tax evasion, bribery and embezzlement, we feel it is safe to return, and see ourselves as 'open for business'.
"On our return, we intend to broaden the civil fraud action we launched against Abdullayev, and have issued writs seeking civil recovery and 'Mareva' international asset freezing orders against other senior business people named by police as involved in the web of fraud around the cartel. Notably, we have filed a suit for a Mareva order in the High Court in London against the European assets of Uzbek businesswoman Gulnara Karimova, aka 'Googoosha'.
"We hope that having her EU assets frozen will encourage her to negotiate with our clients in Tashkent."
For more information, please contact us via: http://huntsmanlewis.com/contact.php
Share this article