Accomplice of the corruption scandal in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is again favorite in public procurement

Baku/26.05.22/Turan: On May 17 the Central Botanic Garden announced about conclusion of a contract with Turbo Service LLC for 12 months for landscaping operations, purchase and planting of various trees. Note that a director of the company had earlier been involved in a corruption scandal due to large-scale embezzlement of funds in procurement procedures by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the information published by the unified portal of public e-procurements, in the Central Botanic Garden stone flooring will be replaced  stone on about 1700 m2 and 11 784 pieces of fruit and ornamental trees will be planted. Total of AZN 99,879 ($58,700) were allocated for this purpose.

In May this year the company Turbo Service signed a contract with the executive power of Lachin region  for purchase of goods and services for illumination of roads in Gaygi settlement. The contract value is AZN 48,240.

The director of the company Turbo Service is Khagani Zalov, 34, a resident of Imishli region. During the trial, which ended in 2021, Khagani Zalov, as well as other legal representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suppliers admitted that they had participated in fictitious procurement procedures. Companies opened in their names were declared the winners of tenders. For example, Kuryer Təchizat LLC headed by Khagani Zalov signed a contract with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2017 for the supply of office and household goods worth 164,700 manats ($96,800). From this amount, the MFA officials received kickbacks, and the company director was entitled to 2% of the contract amount. Despite the admissions, neither Zalov nor other representatives of the MFA's suppliers were held criminally or otherwise liable.

According to the State Tax Service, on February 13, 2017, with the participation of Khagani Zalov five companies were established with a capital of 5 manats each. Two of them (Vespa Təchizat LLC and Golden Luks LLC) have debts to the state budget worth 8,990 and 13,080 manats respectively.

On 5 May of this year by the decree of President Ilham Aliyev the Central Botanical Gardens (CBC) was excluded from the structure of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and placed under the control of the executive power of Baku. By the same document AZN 25 million ($14.7 million) was allocated to the executive power for development, reconstruction and construction of the Central Botanical Garden. -08B-