Eurasianet: European Games’ sponsors have close ties to Ilham Aliyev’s clan
That corporate sponsorship and international sporting events go hand-in-hand is nothing new. But the extent to which many sponsors of the European Games have connections to the host nation, Azerbaijan, and specifically to the regime of President Ilham Aliyev, is noteworthy, Eurasianet.org writes.
The portal points that Aliyev in addition to serving as head of state also happens to lead Azerbaijan’s National Olympic Committee, and his clan run the organizing committee and participate in the torch relay for the Games. Nine Azerbaijani companies that are officially promoting the Games as official partners or official “supporters” all appear to have some sort of connection, whether commercial or personal, to the Aliyev regime, recent media investigations have found.
The sponsors SOCAR (the State Oil Company) and Azercosmos, are state-owned, and thus are closely connected to the Aliyev administration. SOCAR, the state oil giant, oversaw the estimated $640-million construction of the stadium in Baku. Meanwhile, Azercosmos is providing satellite support for the event. SOCAR has served as Azerbaijan’s profit machine – whether for PR and lobbying in Washington and Brussels. In a recent interview with Euractiv.com, SOCAR Deputy Vice President Vitaly Baylarbayov said the company became an official partner of the Games “for very many reasons.” The company contributed over 132 million manats ($125.88 million) to the state budget in May 2015, according to Eurasianet.org.
Eurasianet.org further writes that among the international partners is British energy giant BP, a company with a long-standing connection to Azerbaijan, and to the Aliyevs. It was Ilham Aliyev’s father, the late Heydar Aliyev, who, while serving as the country’s president in 1994, engineered the so-called “Contract of the Century,” under which a BP-led consortium gained rights to develop and export Azerbaijani energy.
Azerbaijan Airlines, billed as the country’s “national airline,” is promoting the Games in its in-flight entertainment and, it has been a closed joint-stock company since 2008, but its precise ownership structure remains unclear. In 2010, an investigation by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijani-language service revealed that “nearly all” of the companies held by Azerbaijan Airlines before its 2003 privatization had been acquired by a conglomerate called SW Holding. Azerbaijan Airlines has awarded multiple contracts for meals, taxiing, technical upkeep and airport construction to companies owned by SW Holding, now known as Silk Way Group. The Group also owns a bank, Silk Way Bank, whose partners have close ties with the Aliyev clan. Another Azerbaijani bank, Kapital Bank, also belongs to the president’s clan, Eurasianet.org reports.
Nar, the mobile-phone branch of the Baku-based telecommunications company Azerfon, is also among the Games’ partners. An investigation conducted by RFE/RL in 2011 uncovered evidence that Azerfon is connected to the ruling regime. Three firms registered in Panama (Hughson Management, Inc., Gladwin Management, Inc. and Grinnell Management, Inc.) each hold a 24 percent stake in Nar and are owned by the Aliyev clan, according to the article.
Azersun Holding claims to be Azerbaijan’s top food producer and exporter, and is mentioned among the official supporters of the Games. Critics contend that it acts like a monopolist. Its connection to the Aliyev clan is indirect, according to Eurasianet.org.
A 2013 investigation published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) found that Azerbaijani businessman Hasan Gozal, brother of Azersun’s founder and board chair of Azersun, also acts as the director of three British Virgin Islands companies (Arbor Investments, LaBelleza Holdings Limited and Harvard Management Limited) owned by the Aliyevs. It was involved in construction projects worth an estimated $4.5 billion, according to the ICIJ investigation. The projects ranged from Baku’s emblematic Flame Towers to government villas.
Another official supporter of the Games, dairy company Milla is a brand owned by Azerbaijani company AZFP. According to a 2014 investigation by the Turan news agency, AZFP had a connection to Gilan Holding, a vast conglomerate believed to belong to Emergency Situations Minister Kamaladdin Heydarov, one of Azerbaijan’s most powerful public figures and a close friend of the ruling clan.
NAZ, a small-volume passenger-car manufacturer and headquartered in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, supports the Games as well. It may also have ties to the clan.
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