Azerbaijan to Sue Companies Extracting Gold in Occupied Territories

Baku / 04/01/18 / Turan: Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan has launched a criminal case against companies engaged in gold mining in the occupied territories of the country. This is stated in the message of the Prosecutor General's Office, circulated on March 31.

"The Prosecutor General's Office analyzed the materials received from AzerGold CJSC about illegal mining of gold and other precious metals in the Azerbaijani territories occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces," the press release reads.

As a result of the conducted investigations, it was revealed that the managers of Vallex Group, Base Metals, ACP, Lerna Metalurgiayi Institute, Teghout and other entities registered in Armenia and other countries, as well as individuals from Armenia, repeatedly and illegally crossed the state border of Azerbaijan. Together with other persons in the occupied territories, they formed an enterprise in an organized group without registration in accordance with the legislation of Azerbaijan. As a result of these activities, these structures and individuals received illegal income from the extraction of large amounts of gold and other non-ferrous metals in the fields located in the occupied territories of Kelbadjar (Soyudlu, Gizilbulag), Zangilan (Vezhneli) and Terter (Demirli and other fields). The facts of development of these deposits in the occupied territories by these companies are confirmed by data from the satellite Azersky.

Based on this, the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan opened a criminal case under art. 192.2.3 (illegal business) and 318.2 (illegal crossing of the state border of Azerbaijan). The criminal case is conducted by the Investigation Department for Grave Crimes of the Prosecutor General's Office.

"In addition, Azerbaijan intends to attract an international audit company as soon as possible in order to determine the damage inflicted to AzerGold CJSC as a result of illegal mining of precious metals in the occupied territories, after which appeals will be sent to the international court and law enforcement agencies of those countries, companies from which are involved in these illegal activities," the report says.

AzerGold CJSC was created by the decree of the President of Azerbaijan dated February 11, 2015. The company is engaged in the exploration, development and management of the gold and iron ore areas of Garadagh, Chovdar, Heydag, Dagkesemen, the section of Kohnemeden and the Kurekchay basin. -06D--