Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has confiscated three luxury properties worth $25.5mn in England that belonged to Gulnara Karimova, the disgraced and imprisoned eldest daughter of the late president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov.

Two apartments in the prestigious Belgravia district in London and a mansion in the county of Surrey were seized on the basis that Karimova, currently serving a 13-year sentence in Uzbekistan for money laundering, and family members purchased the properties with the proceeds of corruption.

The SFO alleged that Karimova received hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes from telecommunications companies between 2004 and 2012 in exchange for helping them gain market access in Uzbekistan.

Prior to the UK announcement, it was known that the total amount of assets that have been associated with Karimova in Switzerland, France and the US was estimated at around $1.4bn. Uzbekistan is attempting to recover at least $1bnof that.

The 51-year-old Karimova was once seen as a possible successor to her father.

She has also been tied to money-laundering investigations in Sweden and Switzerland.

In May 2020, a son of Karimova, Islam, published on his sister Iman’s Instagram page a list of assets confiscated from his mother in Uzbekistan.

Assets including the Perfectum Mobile mobile operator, Uzbekistan Pochtasi (Uzbekistan Post) and 98 apartments in Tashkent were included on the list. It also included the MDS medical centre; two private clinics; five restaurants; four cinemas; two sports and spa clubs; duty free retail outlets at Tashkent airport; a network of distribution stores for Levi's, Mango, Benetton and other global brands; more than 20 construction sites; over 20 retail spaces at the centre of the capital; real estate companies; livestock farms and agricultural lands.