A Commercial Dispute, Then a Prison Cell: Amsterdam & Partners to Set Out the Real Cost of Doing Business With the Uzbek State at London Press Conference

London, 9 October 2026 — Amsterdam & Partners LLP will hold a press conference in central London on the morning of Wednesday 14 October 2026 on investor risk in Central Asia, with a particular focus on the case of Uktam Xasanov, CEO of fintech platform Solfy, who has been held in detention in Uzbekistan since March 2026 following a commercial dispute with the National Bank for Uzbekistan.  

Robert Amsterdam, Founder and Managing Partner of Amsterdam & Partners, and international counsel to Solfy’s principal shareholder, will set out the risks facing businesses and investors who cooperate with foreign governments and state institutions in the region, where a disagreement over money can be converted into a criminal matter and a counterparty can be removed from the table altogether. He will address Mr. Xasanov’s detention in detail, and will discuss other cases in which the same pattern can be seen. There will be an opportunity for questions.

Mr. Amsterdam will be joined by William Burke-White, formerly an advisor to the United States Department of State and now Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, and by Israr Khan, Senior Associate at Amsterdam & Partners. 

Uzbekistan has spent recent years presenting itself to foreign capital as a reformed and open jurisdiction. Mr. Xasanov’s case puts that presentation to the test. He did business with a state bank, the relationship broke down, and he has been in custody since March. 

Press conference details 
Date: Wednesday 14 October 2026 
Time: 11:00 
Venue: The Warsaw Room, BeOffices, 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW 

The press conference will be followed by a private lunch in the House of Commons. 

Mr. Amsterdam states: 

“Investors are told that Uzbekistan is open for business. What they are not told is what happens when the business goes wrong. Our client entered a commercial relationship with a state institution, that relationship soured, and he has spent the months since in a cell rather than in a courtroom litigating contract terms. That is the risk nobody discloses in the investment prospectus.

We have this mechanism before in the darkest times of post-Soviet nations: the state is your partner, your regulator, your counterparty and, when it suits, your prosecutor. There is no separation between those roles, and the moment a dispute arises the investor discovers that the other side owns the referee. 

On 14 October, we will explain what happened to Uktam Xasanov, what it tells anyone considering a transaction with the Uzbek state, and what protections are really available when a commercial disagreement is answered with a detention order.”  

Media wishing to attend the press conference, or to request a place at the lunch, should contact eason@mippr.co.uk. 

Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law firm specialising in political advocacy and human rights, based in London and Washington, DC. For more information, please visit www.amsterdamandpartners.com.  

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