Defendant accused of corruption-deal held with CBA is afraid of Azerbaijani officials
During the next court session in Vienna on corruption scandal between Central Bank of Azerbaijan and the Austrian company “OeBS”, that was engaged in printing of Azerbaijani manats, Raluca Tanasescu Sales Director of “OeBS” refused to name the Azerbaijanis with whom she was holding negotiations. "I am afraid of these people," she said.
An Austrian journalist observing the trial told the Azerbaijani news portal "Haqqin.az", that Tanasescu just like all the nine defendants of this case, copped a plea and gave a confession.
Raluca Tanasescu participated in the preparation process of the contract to be signed between the CBA and a subsidiary company of the Austrian Central Bank. It was her who held all the commercial negotiations with representatives of Elman Rustamov, the Central Bank Chairman, the portal writes.
"I was given an account number in Azerbaijan, where we had to transfer the back-off," said Tanasescu, answering the judge's questions. At first, she was holding talks with the members of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan in Moscow, where she was told about the establishment of the ephemeral offshore company. The judge asked R. Tanasesku: "Can you name those Azerbaijani people?" The “OeBS” Sales Director replied that she was afraid of these people.
At the same time, according to the article, the defendant added that in order to conceal the true purpose of the transferred amount, she had to use fancy account in Austria.
"I coordinate this issue with people from the Central Bank of Austria. They said do not worry and mind your business. I was thinking that I was backed by such a strong institution, as the Central Bank of Austria," she said.
As the defendant noted in her testimonies, everyone in “OeBS” knew that this 20% back-off was sent to the leadership of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan. Chairman of the Board of Directors Wolfgang Duchatek also knew about that.
"Haqqin.az" recalled that at the last session of the court it was the defendant Tanasescu who in her testimony claimed that a part of the money was transferred to offshore accounts, while the other part was transferred by cash, packed in plastic bags, to Azerbaijani diplomats working in Romania. These bags were sent to Baku.
On February 17 in Austria, the trial of high-profiled and scandalously corrupted case, where the chairman of the National Bank of Azerbaijan Elman Rustamov was also engaged in, started. The Austrian law enforcement agencies accuse the “OeBS” contracting company of Central Bank of Austria, of having corrupted transaction with the Central Bank of Azerbaijan and Syria. The company was engaged in printing of banknotes and valuable documents.