Overview
- The Federal Criminal Court discontinued the case after finding it could not reach a verdict before the statute of limitations because Gulnara Karimova cannot leave Uzbekistan.
- Her lawyer said the dismissal amounts to an acquittal under Swiss law and argued her conviction in Uzbekistan was unfair.
- Swiss prosecutors had accused Karimova of leading a network called “The Office” and of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through Swiss accounts between 2005 and 2013.
- Karimova is serving a 13-year sentence in Uzbekistan until December 2028, and prosecutors say the time limits for the alleged Swiss offenses expire over that year.
- A separate Swiss case targets private bank Lombard Odier and a former relationship manager over alleged concealment of the proceeds, which the bank disputes as organizational shortcomings rather than knowing participation.