Amsterdam & Partners LLP: Foreign Investment Is Not Safe in Uzbekistan — Firm Denounces Government Over Fresh Arrests Ahead of Rubio Visit

London, 14 October 2026 — Amsterdam & Partners LLP today denounced the Government of Uzbekistan at a press conference in London over the escalating criminal persecution of those behind the fintech platform Solfy, and warned that foreign investment in the country cannot be considered safe. The warning comes days before United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due in Uzbekistan at the head of a delegation drawn from more than one hundred American companies.

Andrei Basuyev, a Belarusian citizen and the General Director of Solfy RUS LLC, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in the early hours of Monday 12 October, pursuant to an interstate wanted notice initiated by Uzbekistan. The Uzbek authorities accuse him of misappropriation or embezzlement, fraud and intentional insolvency. No court has ruled on the merits of those accusations, and no extradition has been ordered.

Mr. Basuyev is a business partner of Amsterdam & Partners client Maksim Poletaev. Meanwhile, Solfy’s director in Uzbekistan, Uktam Xasanov, remains held in detention since March 2026. The dispute underlying both cases is a contractual one between Solfy and the National Bank of Uzbekistan, a state-owned institution, over a consumer credit partnership the bank entered into and then abandoned. The firm has, on behalf of Mr. Poletaev and Solfy RUS LLC, brought proceedings against Uzbekistan before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, and has sought provisional measures to prevent further escalation against individuals connected to the investment.

The Uzbek decision to place Mr. Basuyev on an interstate wanted list is dated 25 September 2026, within days of the registration of that arbitration claim.

Two men associated with a single investment are now in custody in two countries. Neither is accused of anything that arises from outside a commercial relationship with a state-owned bank.

Amsterdam & Partners Founder and Managing Partner, Robert Amsterdam, was joined at the press conference by William Burke-White, Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania and former advisor to the United States Department of State, who presented the Russian documentary record of the arrest, as well as by Israr Khan, Senior Associate at the firm, who set out the history of the Solfy investment and the arbitration.

The press conference was followed by a lunch in the House of Commons attended by members of Parliament.

Mr. Amsterdam states:

“Foreign investment is not safe in Uzbekistan. That is the conclusion our clients’ experience compels, and it is the message we bring to anyone considering putting capital into the country. An investment is only as secure as the remedy available when it goes wrong, and in Uzbekistan the remedy for the investor is a prison cell.

Governments may investigate genuine crimes. What they may not do is use criminal enforcement to circumvent impartial adjudication, punish commercial disagreement or pressure foreign investors. Uzbekistan resolved to place Mr. Basuyev on an interstate wanted list within days of our clients registering their arbitration claim. We invite anyone to offer an innocent explanation for that interval. The Uzbek criminal process has now reached beyond Uzbekistan and into Moscow, which means a businessman from a third country faces the loss of his liberty outside the country where the investment was made.

We call on Uzbekistan to release Mr. Xasanov, to withdraw its international detention and extradition efforts against Mr. Basuyev, to end the abusive pressure on individuals connected to Solfy, and to engage responsibly with the ICSID proceedings. We call for the protection of Mr. Basuyev’s due process rights and the scrutiny of this request before any transfer takes place.

Before committing capital in Uzbekistan, investors should ask what happens when a dispute arises with a state-owned partner, and whether the businesspeople themselves may pay the price. The answer is now a matter of public record, and it is standing in a Moscow courtroom and an Uzbek jailcell.”

Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law firm specialising in political advocacy and human rights. For more information, please visit www.amsterdamandpartners.com. Media enquiries may be directed to contact@amsterdamandpartners.com.

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