Switzerland has signed an agreement with Uzbekistan to return $131 million seized as part of a money-laundering investigation into the elder daughter of former Uzbek President Islam Karimov, AP reported.

The government said in a statement that as part of the deal, funds seized from Swiss accounts belonging to Gulnara Karimova in 2012 will be transferred to a United Nations trust and used "for the benefit of the people of Uzbekistan."

According to the agreement, additional assets that may be confiscated from Karimova as part of an ongoing criminal case in Switzerland will also go to the UN trust.

Karimova is suspected of receiving large sums from foreign telecommunications companies in connection with contracts in Uzbekistan, but denies guilt. She was placed under house arrest in Uzbekistan in 2014.

Islam Karimov was president of Uzbekistan from 1991 until his death in 2016.