The Regulation, adopted by Government Decree of December 31, 2020 No. 829 stipulates that persons reporting corruption offences or otherwise assisting in countering corruption will be rewarded with a lump sum of money, a thank-you letter and a memorable gift. In this context, the “provision of other assistance in countering corruption” means providing law enforcement bodies with information about evidence relevant for investigating and solving corruption crimes or direct assistance in the investigation of such crimes or police operations.

A whistleblower may be eligible for a reward:

• if a corruption crime is solved based on a tip of the citizen given to anti-corruption bodies (Prosecutor General’s Office, State Security Service, Ministry of the Interior, Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the Prosecutor General’s Office) on the fact of a demand of a bribe or other known facts of corruption;
• if an employee of a non-governmental commercial organisation or other non-governmental organisation, public body, public organisation or a local government body reports on an individual who offered or demanded a bribe or other corruption offence known to him/her to anti-corruption bodies (or, his/her direct superior in the case of employees of such bodies);
• if an individual searched for having committed a corruption crime is apprehended based on a tip of the citizen (except for the officers of law enforcement bodies) given to law enforcement bodies.

The amount of the lump sum to be paid as a reward will be calculated as follows:

• for a tip on an administrative corruption offence the reward will amount to three times the Basic Calculation Unit (BCU) – roughly $64;  
• if the amount of a bribe, damages and value of stolen property do not exceed 30 BCU ($635) the amount of the reward will range from 5 to 15 BCU(from $105 to $311), depending on the gravity of the offence;
• if the amount of a bribe, damages and value of stolen property ranges from 30 to 100 BCU (from $635 to $2,120) the reward will range from 10 to 25 BCU (from $212 to $529), depending on the gravity of the crime;
• if the amount of a bribe, damages and value of stolen property exceeds 100 BCU ($2,120) the amount of the reward in the case of a considerable amount of the bribe/damage/value of property will be 15% of the respective amount of the bribe/damage/value of property, and 10% in the case of a large of exceptionally large amount. 

It should be highlighted that the monetary reward will not be paid to the whistleblower if the bribe-taker voluntarily self-reports within 30 days. 

The decision on rewarding the persons reporting corruption offences or otherwise assisting in countering corruption will be made by special commissions set up under anti-corruption bodies, whose members and procedure will be defined directly by respective bodies. The Anti-Corruption Agency, established in mid-2020, will keep the record of whistleblowers. 

In parallel with the adoption of the Regulation on the procedure for rewarding whistleblowers a bill on social and legal protection of these individuals and their close relatives was proposed in Uzbekistan.