Businessman Complained to President about Corruption Mechanisms in Ministry of Transport

A group of entrepreneurs engaged in passenger transportation in Baku appealed to President Ilham Aliyev and noted that they were the victims of a corruption mechanism in the Transport Department at the Ministry of Transport.

Copies of the appeal were sent to the President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Mehriban Aliyeva, the Head of the Department on Work with Law Enforcement Bodies in the President Administration, Fuad Aleskerov, and the Prosecutor General, Zakir Garalov.

The entrepreneurs led by the director and founder of Ugurlu LLC, Adil Najafov, named the names of the staff of the Transport Department and the amounts paid to them for various permissions.

The entrepreneurs complain of systematic extortion at various levels in the Transport Department and illegal deprivation of their right to engage in passenger traffic.

Najafov’s activities in the field began in 2004, and he operated the route number 247 from the settlement Guneshli to the Neftchilar metro station.

In 2009 he started the bus route number 2 (from the Ahmedli metro station to the Medical University), and in 2010 he took the route number 110 (from Mohammad Hadi Street to the Ulduz metro station).

‘After the ban of using minibuses for passenger transportation I had to lease 3 large buses and 11 medium-capacity buses. To obtain a permit for each bus, I gave a bribe of AZN 4,000 to the employees of the Department. I was told that for each bus I should pay 350 manats to the Department’s employee and 90 manats to the dispatcher. In addition, each month under various pretexts I was required extra money. In such a system, I worked from 2010 to February 2012,’ the appeal notes.

Najafov says he was informed in 2012 that, in connection with the Eurovision SC in Baku the passenger traffic by 11 medium-capacity buses should be suspended and instead he should buy buses of the brand SAZ 37 NP. Otherwise, they threatened him with cancellation of the contract.

In his appeal the entrepreneur names the sums he gave as bribes at the request of employees of the Department.

He also says in early 2015 the Department staff demanded that he should daily appeal to the President and the Ministry of Economic Development (now the Ministry of Economy - Ed.) to increase the fare on public transport.

He says that in the beginning of March 2015 he had to suspend his activities because of the losses.

The businessman also complains about the prosecutors, who, in his opinion, are not willing to investigate the matter.

Najafov says he has appealed to the Office for Combating Corruption under the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan several times. According to him, Ltd. Road Transport Organization responded to only one of his appeals on August 22, 2016. The response noted that the company considered his appeal sent to the Office for Combating Corruption under the Prosecutor General's Office and reminded that according to the President’s order of 1 February 2006, minibuses were changed for large buses. The letter noted that the activities of entrepreneurs who did not meet the new requirements were suspended.

Najafov himself considers this response unserious and an attempt to evade responsibility.

‘In their response they talk about the President’s order of 2006 about minibuses, while I complain about the period after 2010, when we no longer used minibuses,’ he said.

Turan has monitored the online registration of more than a dozen appeals by Najafov to the Prosecutor General’s Office. The results showed that the appeal submitted in March 2016 was sent to the Prosecutor's Office of Baku for consideration, while the appeals sent in June and August 2016 are still considered. -73B-