November 23 The State Security Service (SSS) of Azerbaijan arrested in the Nakhichevan autonomy of two high-ranking officials on charges of embezzling over $160 million.
Mansur Askerov, head of the Department for Regulation of Customs Tariffs and Payments of the State Customs Committee of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR), is charged with misappropriation of more than $77 million. Minister of Finance of the Republic Rafael Aliyev, who until August 2020 led the same department is accused of embezzling over $85 million in public funds.
By decision of the district court in Baku, the suspects will spend four months in custody while investigations are underway.
By according to the investigationthe detainees organized a system to collect funds for imported goods, bypassing customs.
Caliber.az, 25.11.2022, “Arrests started at Nakhchivan customs”: The petition of the investigator in the criminal case initiated by the State Security Service against the head of the department for regulating customs duties and payments of the State Customs Committee of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Askerov Mansur Turan oglu was considered. […] The court chose Mansur Askerov as a preventive measure in the form of arrest for a period of 4 months. […]
According to the accusation, officials of the State Customs Committee of the NAR, in addition to the general electronic system in which state customs duties are registered, created a system of an unofficial second duty for imported imported goods without registration. — Inset K.ru
November 28 President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the liquidation of the State Customs Committee of the NAR. Together it will create a new agency controlled by the State Customs Committee.
The chairman of the abolished committee was Sahat Habibbayli, the son of Isa Habibbayli, president of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences and member of the national parliament. His deputy was Sabuhi Novruzov – son-in-law Vasif Talibovwho has headed the NAR since 1995.
The State Security Service did not report any other arrests, however, according to unconfirmed reports, more people were detained.
Isa Habibbeyli refused to answer journalists’ questions about his son and what happened in the Nakhichevan autonomy.
“I don’t know where he is,” the parliamentarian said. “It’s unethical to ask such questions to a father.”
Nearly half a million Azerbaijanis live in the Nakhichevan autonomy. It is an Azerbaijani exclave bordering Iran, Turkey and Armenia. At the same time, the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which separates the NAR from the main territory of the country, has been going on for more than thirty years.
Azerbaijan is ruled by an authoritarian regime, but the NAR is nicknamed “Azerbaijani North Korea”. The region has been headed by Vasif Talibov, a relative of the late ex-president of Azerbaijan, for 26 years. Heydar Aliyev.
As part of the Credit Suisse Secrets project, OCCRP revealed that the sons of Vasif Talybov received suspicious payments in excess of $20 million from offshore companies from schemes “Azerbaijani Laundromat” and “Laundromat Troika”. These massive money laundering schemes have previously been exposed by OCCRP. Subsequently, the brothers spent about $63 million on real estate in Dubai and Georgia.
MK.Ru, 11/28/2022, “Aliyev started purges in Nakhichevan”: Azerbaijani security forces took on the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic bordering Turkey. Customs officials were detained there, and on Monday the head of the local Finance Ministry, Rafael Aliyev, was arrested. The expert connects this with the agreements between Ankara and Baku on facilitating customs procedures.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is from Nakhichevan. For a long time, the exclave was considered untouchable. Corruption and clanism flourished there, the republic was not always subordinate to officials from Baku. Last year, two ministers were arrested there on suspicion of embezzlement: ex-Minister of Internal Affairs Akhmed Akhmedov and former Minister of Education Mammad Garibov.
This year, customs officials are being imprisoned, and today the head of the Ministry of Finance, Rafael Aliyev, has been arrested. He is accused of abuse of power and embezzlement of 144 million manats ($85 million) of state funds. […] Whether the detainee is a relative of the president or just a namesake is not specified. — Inset K.ru
Vasif Talybov was given a light
The head of the Nakhichevan Republic is being pulled into the case of smuggling and tax evasion
The original of this material
© Turan.az09.12.2022, Head of Nakhchivan Vasif Talibov dismissed?
After the recent arrests and operational activities of the State Security Service in Nakhchivan, talks that the chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Autonomous Republic Vasif Talybov may lose his post do not stop. A number of media outlets even made the assertion that the Chairman of the Supreme Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Vasif Talibov wrote a letter of resignation. There is no official confirmation of this yet. Nevertheless, these media are in search of an answer to the question – who will replace Vasif Talybov in this post?
Turan.az, 09.12.2022, “The head of Nakhchivan Vasif Talibov is dismissed?”: Arrests in Nakhchivan are commented on by the deputy chairman of the Umid party, journalist Elman Abbasov in the program “Difficult Question”. […]
According to Abbasov’s information, not only the Minister of Finance and the head of the customs department of the NAR were detained in the NAR, but the offspring of the Chairman of the Supreme Majlis of the NAR Vasif Talybov were also interrogated. There are also officials who were detained and taken to Baku, where they were interrogated. According to him, the authorities of Nakhchivan abused their family relations with the leadership of Azerbaijan.
“Having established feudal order in the NAR, they trampled on the rights of citizens, engaged in smuggling, established a monopoly in the field of entrepreneurship,” the journalist emphasized, adding that “Practically all businesses in Nakhchivan worked for the Talibs, and those who dared to oppose arbitrariness were subjected to repression “.
Abbasov also noted that after the abolition of the customs committee of the NAR, restrictions were introduced at checkpoints for residents of the autonomy to cross the Azerbaijani-Turkish border. That is, people can enter Turkey no more than once every 15 days. Vehicles are banned from crossing the border.
“It seems that there is a redistribution of the sphere of influence between the clans,” Abbasov believes. — Inset K.ru
According to the information disseminated by the media yesterday, the name of Seymur Talibov, the younger son of the chairman of the Nakhchivan Supreme Majlis, has been removed from the list of vice-rectors on the official website of the Nakhchivan State University. In the section that contains information about vice-rectors (vice-rector for teaching and educational work and vice-rector for general affairs), in the column “vice-rector for international relations”, whose name is missing.
According to other information published today in the media, Vusal Sevdimaliev, Minister of Communications and New Technologies of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and Vugar Abbasov, President of the Cahan Holding Union of Companies, were brought to Baku for interrogation.
This is stated on the facebook page of “Gündəlik Naxçıvan”. The news reports that they are accused of tax evasion, smuggling and other crimes. According to the publication, both persons were interrogated by the State Security Service (SSS) and then returned to Nakhchivan in order to continue the checks.
Meanwhile, the State Security Service continues to check state-owned enterprises in the region, and several officials have already been arrested for massive embezzlement and misappropriation.
It is also reported that the actions of law enforcement agencies in Nakhchivan are coordinated by Maharram Aliyev, Assistant to the President for Military Affairs. He has been in Nakhchivan for a month now.
Elman Abbasov, a journalist from Nakhchivan, deputy chairman of the Umid party, talks about the latest processes in the autonomy in the program “Difficult Question”.
According to him, in 2005, since Vugar Abbasov founded Jahan Holding, he acted as Vasif Talybov’s man. Vugar Abbasov controlled the import of cigarettes to Nakhchivan.
“Moreover, a significant part of the cigarettes he imported was contraband. Until the last days, cigarettes entered the autonomy bypassing customs and were sold without excise stamps. Cigarettes were received without payment of duties,” Abbasov said, adding that similar cases were going on in the Ministry of Communications and New Technologies.
“The equipment imported by Vusal Sevdimaliev, for the most part, went through customs without paperwork and, accordingly, without paying duties. And, of course, it was sold to state-owned enterprises for the highest price,” he said.
Abbasov also noted that many goods imported to Baku from abroad were cleared through customs in Nakhchivan.
“At the same time, a significant part of the funds was appropriated from the moment they came to power in the 90s,” he stressed.