Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office Asks Switzerland to Help Investigate Illegal Business of Its Citizens in Zangilan

Baku / 02.11.20 / Turan: The Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan appealed to the competent authorities of Switzerland with a request for international legal assistance to investigate a criminal case on the illegal development of the Vezhnali gold deposit in the Zangilan region by a citizen of this country during its occupation.

On the fact of illegal entrepreneurial activities of foreign citizens of Armenian origin in the occupied territories of Lachin, Kalbajar and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan, the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan opened criminal cases in 2015 and 2018 under Articles 192.2.3 (illegal entrepreneurship) and 318.2 (illegal crossing of the state border) of the country's Criminal Code.

It was established that the branch of Vallex Group, CJSC Base Metals, officially registered in Switzerland, in 2009-2017 received illegal income in the amount of 301 million 918 thousand manats from the exploitation of precious metal deposits in the village of Vezhnali, Zangilan region.

Vallex Group's financial investor, Swiss citizen Vartan Sirmakes, its head Valery Mejlumyan, as well as the executive director of Base Metals, Artur Mkrtumyan, are charged under these articles. With regard to them, by court decisions, a measure of restraint in the form of arrest was chosen and all three were put on the international wanted list.

In order to establish the amount of damage inflicted on the state and citizens of Azerbaijan, prosecutors are conducting investigative actions with an inspection of the territory of the Vezhnali village liberated on October 30, 2020, the Prosecutor General's Office said.

All necessary measures are being taken within the framework of international law to prosecute and impose sanctions against individuals and legal entities engaged in illegal economic and other activities in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, the reports noted. —1606D-