Thread by @OCCRP

Imon International is a widely celebrated Tajik microlender that was founded 20 years ago to help women entrepreneurs. Its clients can also open bank accounts. And in 2017, one suspicious client sent $48 million abroad through Imon. 1/ occrp.org/en/investigati…

The client was supposedly an importer of construction materials. But it owned no warehouse and was registered — just days before opening its accounts — in this residential building in Dushanbe. 2/

In less than half a year, its transfers represented nearly 20 percent of all of the money Imon’s clients sent abroad over five years. Imon even had to hire additional staff to keep up with the deposits. But nobody seemed to ask very many questions. 3/

OCCRP obtained a Deloitte report investigating the affair. It identified more similar clients that have been sending money abroad through Imon since 2014. The total represented 44 percent of all transfers. 4/

It’s possible Imon’s questionable clients were intermediaries used by Tajik merchants to buy goods abroad — but it’s hard to say.

The int'l development banks and impact investors that ran Imon were overseeing an institution that couldn’t know for sure. 5/

And there’s more. When these transactions came to light, they became a key episode in a battle over the microlender’s future — which has just been won by its international shareholders. The local founders are gone. 6/ occrp.org/en/investigati…