The fifth of the seven daughters of President Emomali Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since the beginning of the state, built a pharmaceutical empire thanks to state contracts within a few years, the Radio Svoboda website reported. Her company, Sifat Pharma, has signed government contracts to supply drugs to the Ministry of Health and many other state medical institutions.
Parvina Rahmonova is the fifth of the president’s seven daughters (he also has two sons). Although many relatives of the leader who ruled with an iron hand had already become owners of large fortunes or took up high government positions, Parwina remained in the shadow until recently.
An investigation conducted by Radio Svoboda journalists showed that her pharmaceutical company is supported by the state financially and PR-wise, and her husband Ashraf Gulow provides her with lobbying abroad.
Parvina Rahmonova controls the company, which within six years of its founding, thanks to government contracts, has become the leader of the Tajikistani pharmaceutical market.
The president’s daughter’s company signed million-dollar government contracts
Sifat Pharma receives multi-million contracts from the government, has a chain of pharmacies with almost twenty locations in the capital of the country, Dushanbe, and during the pandemic COVID-19 When the Tajikistan government bought imported respirators, the intermediary was Parvina Rahmonova’s company.
The activity of the president’s fifth daughter was celebrated on state television, and representatives of the Ministry of Health took part in the company’s opening ceremony, Radio Swoboda reports. The fact that Parvina Rahmonova is the sole owner of Sifat Pharma is an open secret.
Since its establishment until September 2023, Sifat Pharma has signed government contracts worth USD 5.5 million to supply medicines to the Ministry of Health and many other state medical institutions.
Two Sifat Pharma subsidiaries – medical clothing manufacturer Sifat Sanoat and medical service provider Tibbi Todzhik – won government tenders worth over PLN 326,000. dollars. Radio Swoboda has documents confirming this information – we read.
Determining the total value of Rakhmonova’s businesses is not easy. Government Tajikistan does not publish data on companies’ tax payments or officials’ declarations of income and assets. In 2019, the head of the Tajikistan Public Service Agency said that society was “not ready” to publish property and income declarations of officials and their relatives.
– As soon as the level of mentality and understanding of society equals that of Western society, we will propose it – said the head of the agency, Juma Davlatzoda, at a press conference.
Emomali Rahmon has ruled Tajikistan since 1992 TAJIKISTAN PRESIDENT’S PRESS SERVICE/PAP/EPA
Tajikistan’s difficult economic situation
Tajikistan was one of the poorest republics that were part of the USSR. After gaining independence, this situation has not changed – the country is one of the poorest in the world and at the same time the most corrupt.
It is estimated that about 1 million citizens of Tajikistan (one eighth of the population) are in economic emigration, often illegally – mainly in Russia. Remittances from economic emigrants constitute up to 40 percent. country’s GDP. Since 1994, the country has been ruled dictatorially by President Emomali Rahmon.
International organizations point out that this is a country where violations are frequent human rights; In 2015, Tajikistan was ranked 158th out of 167 countries included in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index survey.
Political opposition, religious freedom and press freedom de facto do not exist. Many people who do not support the government are either in prison or in exile. Torture is often used against people accused of crimes.
Main photo source: Filip Singer/EPA/PAP