Uzbek ruler's daughter Gulnara Karimova in graft scandal

A vicious feud playing out within Uzbekistan's ruling family took a new twist when prosecutors announced that the clan's most flamboyant member faces charges of involvement in mafia-style corruption.

The news cements the precipitous downfall of Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan's ageing autocrat, Islam Karimov. Until recently she was a businesswoman, a designer with her own line of jewellery, a diplomat representing her country at the UN, and an aspiring pop star courting international celebrities.

Now she faces a lengthy spell behind bars in one of Uzbekistan's notorious jails.

Karimova stands accused of belonging to a mafia faction that plundered assets worth about £40 million (HK$501 million), Uzbek prosecutors said on Monday. The announcement is the latest development in a year of feuding that - due to Karimova's trigger-happy Twitter finger - has played out in public.

In a series of scandalous tweets, Karimova accused her mother, Tatyana Karimova, and estranged younger sister, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, of plotting to turn her father against her - once even accusing them of dabbling in black magic. Both deny her allegations.

Karimova's social media antics so enraged her dictatorial father, who has ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist for more than two decades, that he cut off contact with his daughter.

For the last six months, Karimova has been under unofficial house arrest in Tashkent, with all communication with the outside world severed - except for occasional messages smuggled out to journalists. Her UK-based son, Islam Karimov Jr, told the Guardian in July that he had not spoken to his mother since March, and that when he attempted to approach his grandfather, Karimov, he was turned away by armed men.