Your trusted source

The official sources of Azerbaijan keep silence on the situation around the Ministry of National Security of the country. Meanwhile, state-owned media regularly leak about new dismissals and arrests, Turan agency writes.

The reason of the dismissals and detentions of the Ministry’s officials is reportedly racketeering and corruption. According to Turan, this is about not only extortions from entrepreneurs but also the flawed bribery system inside the agency, which refers to job promotions and receiving ranks for bribe.

Commenting on the situation unfolded in the Ministry, a former law enforcement agency investigator, whose name is not revealed, told Turan that the investigation of all the crimes of the former officials would take months. An objective investigation will certainly expose criminal ties between the MNS and other law enforcement agencies and authority circles. The former investigator highlighted that one cannot carry out such actions alone. However, that scandalous investigation can be suddenly stopped as soon as the authorities decide that enough heads have rolled, rather than when the whole picture is cleared up and the whole truth discovered.

Haqqin.az notes that ex-minister Eldar Mahmudov, who had disappeared of the sight of the media after his resignation, suddenly appeared in the public. The website learnt that “the almighty ex-minister” had been seen at the funeral of the mother of Jahangir Hajiyev, the former head of the International bank. Eldar Mahmudov stood by Hajiyev practically the whole day and even went to the cemetery with the funeral ceremony. According to the website, he kept aloof, looked grave and pressed trying not to talk to anyone. His arrival, though, surprised the public.

In another article, Haqqin.az reports that the arrests of the high-ranking MNS officials, who were found out to have pressed on the small and medium-sized business representatives, have also penetrated to other law enforcement agencies.

According to Minval.az, Vidadi Mammadov, a detained MNS general, “fleeced” entrepreneurs on the MNS order. He summoned them to his office and in case they failed to give him the demanded bribe, he arrested them. The department Mammadov headed possessed a wide spectrum of powers, such as levying tax debts and interests, imposing financial sanctions and administrative penalties, as well as seizure of property of the debtors. The website points out that Mammadov’s investigation and possible arrest may have a negative effect on the Tax Minister Fazil Mammadov’s shaking positions. It will be revealed whether he was aware of the MNS’ unlawful actions against the entrepreneurs.

As for Eldar Mahmudov’s “diamond business,” the website reports receiving information that the MNS had taken under control the diamond traffic following the arrests of Emil Suleymanov, the chief of Azerbaijan Airlines Security service, and lieutenant-colonel Rafet Aliyev, the head of the MNS department at Baku Airport, in a special operation in 2007 on charges of espionage for Russia. According to the source of the website, the real reason for those arrests was to take control over the diamond import at the airport. Moreover, the MNS leadership got the post of ambassador at the Foreign Ministry to attract diamond flow from abroad, and for that aim, an Azerbaijan Embassy was opened in Africa, which is rich in precious stones.

“Although we know the country and the ambassador’s name, we will not reveal the information yet, as we conduct an investigation. The source, however, noted that the Foreign Ministry intends to withdraw that ambassador after Mahmudov’s dismissal.

Nevertheless, they decided to wait because there is a good chance that he will apply for political asylum,” Minval.az writes.
The website also reports that the MNB conducted an operation in the Azerbaijani bank Texnikabank in March 2012, which led to arrests of the bank leadership, and those who were not arrested, were fired. The bank was robbed. Mahmudov took up the control over the bank with the help of Jahangir Hajiyev, the father of his daughter-in-law. Texnikabank, one of the five leading banks in the country, was reportedly destroyed by Jahangir Hajiyev and his team. Zamin Bank is another bank under the MNS former leadership’s control. It was controlled by the former deputy minister of the Department of combating transnational crime, Fizuli Aliyev, who was sentenced to three months imprisonment by a court decision. Citing Musavat.com, the website notes that the bank was involved in an offshore money laundering case. In addition, some sources reported that at least $50 million cash was smuggled out of Azerbaijan every year with the help of Zamin Bank.

According to Minval.az, both the MNS and MIA will be able to conduct phone surveillance in Azerbaijan from now on, and the Special State Protection Service will take them under its control. Strateg.az notes that the reason for the decision was that a surveillance of the MNS group discovered that the officials of the ministry surveilled not only the phone calls of entrepreneurs, well-to-do and official figures, but also officials of state agencies engaged in investigative activities, in particular, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Prosecutor General’s Office.

Certain evidence and proofs confirmed that the MNS officials used their power, technical opportunities and facilities to surveille and collect information about the operations prepared by the MIA, as well as the network of the secret agents. Then they used it for their own goals. For example, they learnt about important sources who reported the police about key spheres (criminal world, political sphere, drug smuggling, and others). Then they tried to include those sources into the network of their agents with blackmail. In another instance, they received information about people they suspected of some crimes, then they “leaked” the information to them receiving huge sums in return, or else, they attracted those people to secret cooperation.

Arif Mammadov, the former ambassador of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to the EU, told the website Ekho Kavkaza that everything going on in the MNS, exist in the other ministries as well, the same corruption, embezzlement of public funds, harassment of people. This is all the reflection of an overall systemic crisis of the Azerbaijani authorities.

“This comes to prove that there is a big and serious systemic problem. This all occurs against the backdrop of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country and the deepening economic crisis. You are aware that the banking sector is actually utterly ruined, there are serious economic problems in the country, the businesses are closing down, and there are a number of reasons for that, that is the struggle of clans, the crisis of the banking system,” Mammadov highlighted. “A lot of high-ranking officials used their power to borrow enormous sums of money from the International bank of Azerbaijan. According to various estimates, over two billions disappeared from the bank, and cannot be found. The oligarchs and ministers cannot return that money… This is an evidence of a real crisis.”

On 17 October 2015, President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, signed a decree to dismiss the Minister of National Security, Eldar Mahmudov Ahmad oglu, from his post. Reportedly, an investigation revealed that a group of high-ranking officials had been engaged in criminal actions against entrepreneurs for a long period and gained millions. The activities of the Azerbaijani business elite and well-known representatives of medium-sized business were surveilled with audio spying equipment on Minister Eldar Makhmudov’s order. The MNS generals took an active part in the process. Later, discrediting material was specially filed against those businesspersons, and consequently, the snatch squad of the MNS conducted illegal arrests of businesspeople on the leadership’s order.

Related:
Azerbaijan: Media report former MNS head created “shadow government” and prepared overthrow 
Why was Azerbaijan Minister of National Security dismissed? Experts comment 
Media reports: Former MNS head of Azerbaijan surveilled business elite and filed discrediting information 
Media report 250 GB secret information stolen from Azerbaijan MNS server, former minister’s fate unknown