We advise on complex tax and financial disputes, M&A transactions, and cross-border investment in Uzbekistan and the CIS region.
Our team combines over 21 years of legal practice with 15 years of applied economic expertise, giving us the forensic depth to challenge tax assessments, defend executives in financial crime proceedings, and structure transactions that hold under regulatory scrutiny. We work with foreign investors entering the Uzbek market, domestic companies navigating state oversight, and senior executives facing criminal exposure arising from tax disputes.
We do not pursue volume. We take on matters where the complexity demands genuine expertise — and we stay involved at every stage of proceedings.
Defence of directors, CFOs and senior executives in cases involving tax evasion (Art. 184 CCUz), financial fraud, embezzlement, and fictitious transaction schemes. Full cycle from pre-investigation inquiry through appellate proceedings.
Challenging tax audit acts before the State Tax Committee, transfer pricing disputes, VAT and payroll tax assessments, and holding optimisation for groups operating in Uzbekistan.
Transaction structuring, share purchase agreement negotiation, representations & warranties packages, due diligence, coordination with the Agency for Management of State Assets, and closing mechanics.
Governance frameworks, shareholder disputes, minority shareholder protection, contract architecture, and dispute resolution before Uzbek courts and arbitration panels.
Regulatory affairs, licensing, supply contract structuring, GMP compliance, and defence in administrative proceedings for pharma companies, distributors, and healthcare operators.
Foreign and domestic investment structuring, Free Economic Zone registration, regulatory approvals, PPP frameworks, and energy sector transactions including PPA structuring and grid-connection approvals.
Our founders spent over a decade advising boards of pharmaceutical holdings and industrial groups with significant state participation. We understand how decisions are made inside Uzbek regulatory bodies — and how to engage them effectively on behalf of our clients.
Tax disputes in Uzbekistan frequently escalate into criminal investigations under Articles 184 and 189 of the Criminal Code. We treat every tax matter as a potential criminal exposure issue, building defences that hold at both administrative and criminal stages.
We have advised American, European, and CIS investors on equity acquisitions, PPP structures, and energy projects in Uzbekistan — including full anti-corruption and AML review, multi-jurisdictional SPA negotiation, and coordination with state asset management agencies.
Our team integrates 15 years of economic practice with legal expertise. In criminal tax defence, expert economic analysis is often the difference between acquittal and conviction. We produce and coordinate that analysis ourselves, rather than outsourcing it.
This is where our practice is most distinctive. When tax audits escalate into criminal investigations — charges of tax evasion, financial fraud, or fictitious transactions — most legal teams are poorly equipped to bridge the gap between administrative tax law and criminal procedure. ARM Legal has built a specific methodology for these cases: forensic analysis of tax audit acts, procedural challenges to investigation findings, expert witness coordination, and rigorous defence strategy from pre-investigation inquiry through appellate proceedings.
Context: Director of a transport and logistics company charged under Articles 184 (tax evasion) and 189 (financial fraud) of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan.
Work: Full defence cycle from investigation to trial — procedural challenges to the tax audit act, expert economic analysis of the NDFL assessment, interrogation strategy development, and management of parallel evidentiary submissions.
Outcome: Successful result at court stage, with significant charge reduction following procedural and expert challenges.
Context: Minority shareholder alleged systematic embezzlement and fictitious contract arrangements by affiliated parties.
Work: Full legal and financial investigation into the alleged schemes, formal complaints filed with the Prosecutor General's Office; coordination of parallel civil and criminal proceedings under Articles 167, 205, 209, and 243 CCUz.
Outcome: Proceedings initiated; investigative findings submitted to competent authorities.
Context: American strategic investor acquiring equity stakes in Uzbek operating companies across multiple sectors.
Work: Full legal due diligence, SPA negotiation, representations and warranties package, anti-corruption and AML compliance review, coordination with the Agency for Management of State Assets, and closing mechanics under Uzbek corporate law.
Outcome: Transaction closed; investor protection mechanisms confirmed and documented.
Context: Large-scale hospital project requiring a structured public-private partnership framework under Uzbek public procurement law.
Work: Structuring and negotiation of the concession agreement — tariff and reimbursement regulation, capital investment obligations, risk allocation matrix, and long-term investor protection provisions.
Outcome: PPP framework finalised; investor protections secured across the concession term.
Context: Foreign investor developing utility-scale renewable energy infrastructure in Uzbekistan requiring a complete legal framework from inception.
Work: Land-use permits, power purchase agreement (PPA) structuring, grid-connection approvals, and investor protection mechanisms under Uzbek energy law and the foreign investment regime.
Outcome: Full regulatory framework established; project advanced to development stage.
We do not pursue volume. We take on matters where the complexity demands genuine expertise — and we stay involved at every stage of proceedings.