In 1983 Gdlyan was made head of a special unit of the USSR Procuracy assigned to investigate the Uzbek Mafia, and his partner Nikolai Ivanov was his chief assistant.

The results of their efforts were considerable uncovered widespread corruption involving the falsification of cotton quotas by Uzbek officials.

After the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev to the post of general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, Gdlyan and Ivanov accelerated their investigation, bringing more charges against a number of figures, most of whom were ethnic Uzbeks.

To the electorate, Gdlyan's name was associated with the fight against corruption and the exposure of bribery and embezzlement in the highest echelons of power.

In the USSR Supreme Court there had been a five-year struggle for a review of the case of Estonian inventor Johannes Hint, who had died in jail while awaiting rehabilitation.

Hint had been accused of multifarious intrigues but the investigation team, headed in its final stages by Gdlyan, working for the USSR Prosecutor's Office, had been unable to gather convincing evidence.

The Supreme Court's final decision not only referred to Hint's innocence but also directly condemned Gdlyan who was dismissed from his job with the Prosecutor's Office immediately afterwards.

[15] Finally, on July 12, 1991, USSR Prosecutor General Nikolai Trubin signed a letter on behalf of Mikhail Gorbachev asserting that sufficient evidence against Gdlyan and Ivanov had now been accumulated to charge the two with the crime of exceeding their official powers.