Austrian company paid ‘‘back-offs’’ to Central bank of Azerbaijan for corrupt deals
On 17th of February hearing on high-profile and scandalous case of corruption will begin in Austria where Elman Rustamov, the head of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan is also involved, Azerbaijani news portal Haqqin.az reports.
As it is noted in the article the law enforcement bodies of Austria accuse a contracting company of the Central bank of Austria, “OeBS”, which was engaged in printing of banknotes and securities in corrupt deals with the Central Bank of Azerbaijan and Syria.
According to the materials of the criminal case, from 2005 to 2011 “OeBS” entered into an agreement with the Central Bank of Azerbaijan to print banknotes for Azerbaijan. However, the representatives of the company paid 20% “kickbacks” to the leadership of the central bank of Azerbaijan. The back-off was transferred to the account of one of Panamanian offshore companies.
According to the article, this corrupt deal has caused a tremendous scandal in Austria. Former CEO of “OeBS,” Michael Wolf as well as 9 representatives of the company are accused of the creation of organized crime group and money laundering by Justice of Austria.
In case of conviction those accused will be sentenced to at least 10 year imprisonment. The indictment written on 83 pages contains charges against Elman Rustamov, the head of Central Bank of Azerbaijan.
“The case contains irrefutable evidence that the Austrians gave 14 million EURO to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan. The money was transferred to the account of Panamanian offshore company “Venkoy” registered under the name of an elderly 73-year-old woman. However, according to prosecution the part of the money, transferred as a bribe, was received by the head of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan in cash. Specifically for this, special couriers came to Vienna from Baku,” the article reads.
According to the portal, Austrian prosecutor’s office don’t bring charges against the Azerbaijani side. However, during the trial shocking details of the corrupt deal with the participation of the head of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan may be revealed.
The article notes that the information concerning big back-offs transferred as a result of the contract on banknote printing signed between the Central bank of Azerbaijan and “OeSB” became known almost two years ago. This caused a major scandal in Austria. The Austrians got angered that their company agreed on offer from Azerbaijani officials because of multi-million back-offs.