Azerbaijan toughens punishment for illegal money transfers

Baku/06.12.22/Turan: On December 6, Ilham Aliyev approved the inclusion  of a new Article in the Criminal Code - 206-1, which provides for liability for illegal money transfers from Azerbaijan and to Azerbaijan.

According to the new Article, in cases of illegal money transfers, including the method of mutual settlements, without signs of smuggling in amounts from 50 to 200 thousand manats, a fine of 40% of this amount or restriction of freedom up to 2 years is provided.

If the amount of illegal money transfer is from 200 to 500 thousand manats, then the punishment will be from 40% to 60% of the amount or restriction of freedom from 2 to 4 years, or imprisonment up to 3 years.

In case of an illegal transfer of more than 500,000 manats, this will be punished by a fine of 40 to 60%, or restriction of freedom from 3 to 5 years, or imprisonment for the same period.

If the transfer amount is less than 50 thousand manats, then this will be considered an administrative offense and the fine will be from 40 to 60% of the amount.

The investigation into these criminal cases will be conducted either by the tax service under the Ministry of Economy or the State Security Service.

The official communication on this matter does not explain what would be considered an illegal transfer.

With explanations on this topic, ASTNA published an interview “The main thing is that the laws are correctly implemented” ---06B---