Uzbek financier Kakhramonjon Olimov, who in the summer of 2025 claimed that he had been kidnapped and tortured in France, is now himself being formally accused of organizing a kidnapping. The Insider has learned that a court in Uzbekistan ordered Olimov detained in absentia and that he has been placed on an international wanted list, according to a source close to Olimov’s associates.
No official information about the case has been made public. However, The Insider’s source says Olimov may have staged his kidnapping in France as part of an effort to portray his former employer and adversary in a financial dispute, Batyr Rakhimov, as the organizer of the crime.
In November 2025, The Insider and French magazine L’Express identified numerous contradictions in Olimov’s account — troubling signs that the financier’s alleged kidnapping may have been staged. Among other things, after his purported release, Olimov exchanged friendly messages with a man he later described as one of his captors, then warned him about police activity and instructed him on how to avoid arrest.
Olimov now stands accused of falsely accusing Rakhimov of organizing his kidnapping. More than that, however, it is also suspected that Olimov conspired with Uzbek security officials to arrange for Rakhimov’s actual abduction in order to pressure him into dropping financial claims. Rakhimov had previously accused Olimov of taking control of business assets belonging to him and demanded more than $200 million in compensation.
A new power plant and the arrest of Uzbekistan’s energy minister
Attention has also turned to a combined-cycle power plant project in Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya Region that involves QuWatt B.V., a company linked to Olimov. On July 27, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev criticized the project, saying the site had been poorly chosen and that connecting it to the country’s gas network would cost an additional $300 million. He also said the investor agreement had not been reviewed carefully enough, meaning further unexpected costs were possible.
At the same meeting, Mirziyoyev dismissed Mirzamakhmudov as energy minister, citing “serious shortcomings” in the sector. Two days later, Mirzamakhmudov was detained, and on July 30 a court ordered that he be held in custody. Uzbek media outlet Ozodlik, part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, cited several independent law enforcement sources while reporting that the former cabinet minister is suspected of the abuse of office and embezzlement.
The project, worth around $1.2 billion, was originally developed through the Netherlands-registered Stone City Energy B.V. From its creation in 2019 until March 2024, Olimov was its sole ultimate beneficial owner. Then, after a restructuring agreement, Olimov still retained an economic interest in the project through QuWatt B.V., which remains fully controlled by him and is among the owners of project company SCE-Quvvat LLC (alongside EDF, Siemens Energy, and Qatar’s Nebras Power).
The staged kidnapping
In the summer of 2025, Olimov claimed that he had been kidnapped in central Paris and taken to an unknown location before being moved to a villa near Nice, where he said he was beaten, tortured, and ordered to pay $10 million. According to Olimov’s account, the kidnappers released him after he agreed to sign an IOU for $5 million and hand over $200,000. After returning to Paris, Olimov went to the police.
However, a joint investigation by The Insider and L’Express found several inconsistencies in Olimov’s account. The villa where he said he was held had been rented through an intermediary using documents belonging to a close associate. After his reported release, a first-class ticket back to Paris was paid for by the driver of a man identified only as M., whom Olimov described as having been directly involved in the kidnapping. Olimov continued exchanging friendly messages with M. even after contacting police; during a lengthy police interview, he discussed the transfer of $200,000 to M.
The correspondence continued afterward. When M. asked Olimov whether the police had realized that the incident had been staged, Olimov did not respond. Several days later, Olimov wrote that there was “no enmity” between them and expressed relief that M. had not been arrested. A medical examination that took place eight days after the alleged torture Olimov said he endured while in captivity documented only minor bruises and abrasions of unknown origin.
Notably, the investigation also established that Olimov had been involved in a yearslong financial dispute with his former employer, Batyr Rakhimov. After Rakhimov left Uzbekistan for Turkey in 2016, a significant portion of his business came under Olimov’s management as part of a deal that Rakhimov later considered to be highly unfavorable.
After returning to Uzbekistan, Rakhimov sought to renegotiate the terms and demanded more than $200 million from Olimov. Olimov’s kidnapping allegations emerged in the summer of 2025 amid that dispute.
