PARIS: French authorities are investigating a money laundering case that targets Gulnara Karimova, the Uzbek leader’s daughter, among others, a judicial source said Friday.

The glamorous eldest daughter of Islam Karimov, who has ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Karimova was educated at Harvard and is closely watched as a possible successor to her 75-year-old father.

The source said a French probe was opened in February into “money laundering by an organized gang” and “corruption of a foreign official”, in a case allegedly involving Karimova.