Concerning the niceties of promotion and protection of business interest, the Director of the Legal Division, Firdavs Saidvalizoda provided insight as per "Asia Plus".
The Tajikistani method of managing a business possesses its peculiarities and specificity as opposed to other countries. In modern business practice, in the events when certain disputes arise, the level of proficient drafting of the legal documents with all the financial risks indicated can make a strong impact on the process as a whole.
Investors and foreign companies are interested in legal practitioners who are familiar with the niceties and requirements under national and international law. This is where the team "Tax and Legal Advisers" steps in.

Which legal aspects are not taken heed by foreign investors in Tajikistan?
Such questions are quite common. When approving a certain project, application of tax benefits and other benefits aimed for, grant (loan) agreements, is impractical, for example, construction of any state facility. While an international agreement stipulates the exemption of the grant (credit) funds from tax fees, in practice, the tax authority in the prescribed manner, exempts only the general contractor and not the local suppliers of works and services.
Accordingly, when a general contractor concludes a contract with local subcontractors, they provide the service with the inclusion of all the tax obligations that they are subject to, as they are not exempt. Consequently, it turns out that a certain part of the grant (credit) funds is spent on the tax fees. This has become the reason for international organizations to question the process of implementation of investment projects.

Can you recall the last example when foreign companies approached you with such problems?
The point is that the key task of a legal practitioner in a company is to effectively, resolve a dispute, taking into consideration all the potential risks, at the minimum cost to the Client.
There was a case, when one foreign company "A" in Tajikistan approached us, to represent its interests against another foreign company "B" in the Higher Economic Court. Company "A" did not receive the payment for the delivery of goods and company "B" avoided paying its debts in every possible way.
The case was a fraction closer to a real court proceeding, and this already implies additional costs for both of the companies. Since company "A" did not have qualified legal practitioners, it was unable to recover the significant sums for 2 years.
Finally, when the legal practitioners of our company intervened in the resolution of the dispute, it was settled in the pre-trial order and without additional costs to the parties.

Within a short period, your company has expanded rapidly and large companies for resolving their legal problems, approach you; what is the secret behind this?
There is no secret. We have conducted an analysis and concluded that the Tajikistani market of legal services is developing and the business requirements have changed. Following this, we established three divisions, Legal, Tax and Accounting Outsourcing. It is due to the coordinated work between the divisions we can provide high-quality services to our Partners/Clients with consideration of all the financial and taxation risks.
We manage to foresee in advance all the pitfalls that our partners may encounter in the course of doing business. The role of the legal practitioners is to not only protect the interests of businesses by providing first-class service but also be objective with the opinions granted. Because a lawyer without morals - is a dangerous person!

What distinctive work character do your foreign clients have in contrast to your local clients?
It is worth noting that the role of a legal practitioner can be service or strategic. What type it shall be, is for the business owner to decide. For example, very often for foreign clients, the decision of a lawyer is not subject to further discussion. As it were, if a lawyer does not grant an advantageous opinion on a certain transaction or action, the owner does not conclude the deal. Whereas, reversely, the owner enters into the deal at its own risks.
As opposed to the foreign Clients, the local Clients often dictate to the lawyers what shall be done. It is all based on the principle of "said, then you should do it!", whether there are risks or not.
However, it is worth noting that nowadays in Tajikistan the requirements for legal practitioners have enormously increased. A lawyer has to possess knowledge about the whole process of establishing a business.
To that end, we at "Tax and Legal Advisers" have assembled a strong team of legal practitioners who work closely with cutting-edge tax professionals and accountants. All this entails the value of "Tax and Legal Advisers".