From 5 million soums to 22 million soums: Info about salaries of Uzbek deputies has been shared

Tajikistan’s Asia-plus publication compared the monthly salaries of deputies in Central Asia and a number of other countries. It states that among the Central Asian countries, the deputies of Kazakhstan receive the highest salaries, and the deputies of Uzbekistan receive the lowest salaries.

It is noted that the salary of Kazakh deputies is equal to $2,050 (23.8 million soums). Deputies of Tajikistan – $688 (8 million soums) and deputies of Kyrgyzstan – $500 (5.8 million soums). The deputies of Uzbekistan are in the last place with a salary of $380 (4.4 million soums). There is no information on Turkmenistan. In this regard, the journalists of the publication may have received information about the salaries of Uzbek deputies from open sources.

According to additional information provided by the source, Belarusian deputies receive a salary of $950 (11 million soums), Great Britain deputies – $5,950 (69 million soums), Russian deputies – $6,850 (79 million soums), and European Parliament deputies – $7,500 (87 million soums).

Kun.uz studied the information about the salary of deputies of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis.

“Hidden” salary

It is known that in 2020 the deputies of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis were given special bank cards. In 2021, 10 million soums per month were deposited into this plastic card for each deputy. In addition, they were paid a monthly salary of around 7-8 million soums. As a result, deputies received 17-18 million soums of income every month.

In this regard, the Kun.uz reporter interviewed several deputies of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis. People’s representatives confirmed the information that they receive 10 million soums for plastic cards every month.

“Yes, every month I get 10 million soums on my bank card. This is done so that we can work well and not think about financial problems. Everything is aimed at improving working conditions. The money will be allocated from special accounts,” one of the deputies who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

According to several sources in the government, currently deputies receive an average of 18 million soums per month. The question why this information is not disclosed was not answered.

Another source said that 10 million soums coming to the bank’s plastic card are allocated from the “special fund” and emphasized that this money is not a salary, but a kind of “support” of the state.

“All deputies have apartments and cars. They should be grateful to the state and work hard. The salary of deputies is 6-10 million soums, this amount depends on various criteria. The said 10 million soums will be allocated from the government’s special fund. As a result, the monthly income is 16-20 million soums. From January of this year, it was planned to stop allocating funds through special cards and to increase the amount of wages. I honestly don’t know what happened after that. It seems that the cards are still active,” he said.

At the same time, some MPs receive higher salaries based on their academic degrees and certain military ranks. In general, salaries range from 16 million to 22 million soums per month, sources say.

Unfortunately, despite representing the people, MPs do not want to disclose information about their salaries. One such deputy said in an interview with Kun.uz that he signed a document on non-disclosure of salary information and this issue will not be discussed even with family members.

“The amount of salaries is strictly confidential information. The media reports are correct. I receive 4.5 million soums per month. For example, deputies in the Russian State Duma have high salaries, each of them has an assistant. They are paid a lot of money for business trips. This is not the case with us,” the deputy of the Legislative Chamber complained.

When the deputy was asked: “Do you get 10 million soums a month in plastic?”, he did not answer the question and once again reminded of the document on non-disclosure of information about salaries.

Another deputy openly stated that he receives 20 million soums per month, but did not clarify all the details. Another one announced that he will receive a salary of 16 million soums. He added that he has no degrees or titles.

In 2020, Kun.uz tried to get information about the income of deputies from the Ministry of Finance, but no specific figures were provided in this regard. Whether a deputy who is considered a representative of the people receives a monthly salary of 40 million soums or 50 million soums, this should not be disclosed. The activities of the Legislative Chamber are financed from the state budget. There should be no secret here. On the contrary, the deputies should openly talk about their income and be an example to many officials and civil servants of Uzbekistan in this regard.

For information, the law “On the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan” stipulates that the financing of the organization’s activities will be carried out at the expense of the state budget. In particular, the law “On the state budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2023” envisages the allocation of 394.5 billion soums to the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis this year.

It should be noted here that the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis is not an LLC, JSC, joint venture or law enforcement body. Everything should be open and transparent in an organization where people’s deputies are working, shouldn’t it?