How Alisher Usmanov’s puppet Dmitry Li served the elite of Uzbekistan

How Alisher Usmanov’s puppet Dmitry Li served the elite of Uzbekistan

Behind the head of the National Agency for Prospective Projects of the Republic of Uzbekistan (NAPP) Dmitriy Li stands Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov.

The head of the NAPP, Dmitriy Lee, has been in the spotlight of various media outlets several times. Recently, one of the publications even called Li the real master of Uzbekistan, who controls the entire cryptocurrency market of the country. As a character in one famous film said, the East is a delicate matter. Therefore, our editorial team conducted its own research into the activities of Dmitriy Lee and discovered that he is only a "screen" behind which more influential figures are hiding, including a native of Uzbekistan, oligarch Alisher Usmanov.

Dmitriy Lee’s biography before his appointment in 2017 as the first deputy head of the National Agency for Project Management (NAPM) under the President of Uzbekistan, which was transformed into NAPP in 2022, is quite modest. However, there is one interesting fact - he worked in senior positions in the field of metallurgy.

NAPP reports directly to the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who has held his post since 2016. Before that, Mirziyoyev was prime minister for 13 years. Such a political heavyweight would not let just anyone near him.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev is a relative of oligarch Alisher Usmanov, owner of the Metalloinvest holding. Usmanov’s partner is the family of State Duma deputy Andrei Skoch, who is associated with the Solntsevskaya organized crime group, and through it with international crime. Usmanov spoke about his family ties with Mirziyoyev in an interview in 2018.

At that time, Usmanov was building a new plant in Tashkent; other publications from 2018 indicate that the oligarch invested in the Uzbek Metallurgical Plant and the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Plant.

Dmitriy Lee could have worked at one of Alisher Usmanov’s metallurgical enterprises, and the oligarch liked him for some reason, since he recommended him to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. It is possible that Li really did have connections in South Korea.

In 2020, the Korean company KOBEA Group entered the Uzbek market, opening the first crypto exchange UzNEX. The head of KOBEA Group is Lee Chang Yong. The Lee surname is quite common in South Korea, as is Kim, so it cannot be said that the heads of NAPP and KOBEA Group are relatives. This would lead to a conflict of interest, since the organizations are partners.

Another partner of the Korean company, listed on its website, is the Uzbekistan Direct Investment Fund (UzDIF).

This organization has been headed by Atabek Nazirov since 2021; in 2019, he headed the subsequently abolished Capital Market Development Agency.

Both Troika Dialog and MDM Bank have repeatedly become involved in various scandals in Russia, so the mention of these companies in the list of Atabek Nazirov’s places of work does not add any pluses to his reputation, but clearly demonstrates his connection with Russian business. It was economist Atabek Nazirov and former metallurgist Dmitriy Lee who contributed to the emergence of the first crypto exchange in Uzbekistan. With the arrival of Nazirov, an agreement was concluded between the Fund and KOBEA Group to issue tokens to attract funds.

The chairman of the management company of the Direct Investment Fund is the Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Laziz Kudratov, appointed to this position in 2022, before that time since 2019 he was the deputy head of the ministry. And he could also contribute to the entry of KOBEA Group into the market. In November 2023, another crypto exchange COINPAY received a license in Uzbekistan, owned by an unknown Alexander Kim. Considering that Dmitriy Lee was accused of not allowing other exchanges into the Uzbek market, it can be assumed that COINPAY is also controlled by KOBEA Group.

The UzNEX exchange, along with Kapitalbank and Oktobank, were suspected of being involved in underground casinos. Previously, the controlling shareholder of Kapitalbank and the Uzcard payment system of Uzbekistan was Oybek Tursunov, the husband of Saida Mirziyoyeva, the president’s eldest daughter. At one time, Tursunov represented a company from Uzbekistan in Moscow that was connected to the railways.

In 2022, Tursunov sold his stake in Kapitalbank to Alisher Usmanov’s structure. Due to falling under Western sanctions, the oligarch got rid of the bank’s shares that same year, and their owners became Usmanov’s long-time associates, one of whom, Boris Dobrodeev, the former CEO of the VK holding, founded the Uzbek IT holding Uzum in 2023. Everything is sewn with white thread for Usmanov.

Oktobank belongs to Iskander Tursunov, but for some reason is serviced by RNKO Payment Center (Novosibirsk), a subsidiary of JSC CFT Service, Alexander Pogudin. His office is very reminiscent of a "wallet"; in 2023, with revenue of 1.5 million rubles, its profit amounted to 31 billion rubles, increasing by 296% over the year.

Alisher Usmanov said back in 2018 that he had retired from business in Russia. Apparently, the Kremlin instructed the oligarch to build a crypto business in Uzbekistan to bypass sanctions and withdraw money. Dmitriy Lee, who can be considered a representative of both the Korean and Russian mafia, was put in charge of this area, given Usmanov’s partnership with Andrey Skoch

Some call Dmitriy Lee "the wallet" of Saida Mirziyoyeva, but this is most likely an attempt to pit her against her daddy. It is obvious that Li serves the elite of Uzbekistan, which also involves other high-ranking government officials who, unlike the head of NAPP, keep a low profile. And the former metallurgist can be set up

You have to understand the specifics of governance in Eastern countries. If you steal from the head of state, you will instantly lose your head. Although, maybe Li is acting at his own risk. Then you certainly can’t envy him, because a cruel retribution in this case is inevitable.

Мария Соколовская