Uzum Market driver released from the courtroom after six months in Kashkadarya

A 41-year-old man who worked as a driver for Uzum Market in the Kashkadarya region was held in custody for more than six months on charges of misappropriating mobile phones. The appellate court reviewed the case, mitigated his sentence, and released him right from the courtroom.

The investigative agency accused the driver of misappropriating 101 phones with a total value of 249 million soums being transported from Tashkent to Kashkadarya without delivering them to the warehouse. The court of first instance sentenced him to three years of imprisonment.

However, when the case was reviewed at the Kashkadarya Regional Court on October 6, 2026, it was stated that the driver had misappropriated not 101, but 21 phones, with a total value of 64.4 million soums.

Although the disappearance of the remaining 80 phones was recorded, it was reported that the activities of 15 other drivers operating on this route were not investigated, and the full shortage was placed on a single person.

It was also revealed that during the investigation, the driver's family compensated the company for damages totaling 92.7 million soums in the form of money and phones. Taking these circumstances into account, the court mitigated the sentence.

Since the six months and 12 days the driver spent in custody were counted toward the newly imposed sentence, he was released directly from the courtroom.

According to reports, under the court decision, the company must return the overpaid 27.5 million soums to the driver's family. There is currently no clear information regarding the fate of the missing 80 phones and who was responsible for their disappearance.