Political Immigration Preparing Project to Seize Property of Corrupt Officials

Baku / 08.01.18 / Turan: One of the leaders of the Azerbaijani political emigration, co-chairman of the organization Azerbaijan Namina Demokratiya (AND, Democracy for Azerbaijan), former diplomat Arif Mammadov suggests creating a special commission in Azerbaijan to identify illegally acquired property and assets in the country and abroad.

To identify illegally acquired property and financial resources (as a result of corruption, use of the post for personal purposes, etc.) and return them to the National Fund, Mammadov suggests creating a special commission of representatives of law enforcement agencies, members of parliament, and NGOs.

The group should consist of professional lawyers, financiers, and high-level economists. International experts with experience in this area should also be invited to the group, Mammadov writes in his Facebook page.

The commission will have to work in close cooperation with Interpol, the Anti-Corruption Service of the European Union (OLAF) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) with large banks in Switzerland, the UK and other countries.

The commission must report on the results of its work to the country's Security Council and be accountable to the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan.

The weekly report on the work done should be presented to the public through TV and other media, and a quarterly full report should be submitted to the parliament. The returned funds must go to the National Fund (the people).

Former government officials and their relatives who voluntarily returned illegally acquired funds and property in the country and abroad, within the framework of a financial amnesty, will be able to keep up to 10% of these funds, as well as real estate (1 apartment and 1 dacha).

Former government officials and their relatives should sign an agreement at the same time, stipulating that in case of incorrect information, the state has the right to confiscate all their property and the property will be transferred to the National Fund.

All government dachas, departmental boarding houses, individual villas and residences will be distributed to orphanages, boarding schools, retirement homes, special schools, rehabilitation centers, Shaheed (martyr) families, families affected by repression and arbitrariness, Mammadov suggests.

Commenting on the proposal for Turan, Mammadov said that the authorities recognize that former ministers F. Mammadov, E. Mahmudov and Z. Mammadov and the head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan J. Hajiyev stole a total of more than 20 billion dollars. This suggests that all the others also stole. There are about 40 ministries and committees of the ministerial level in the country. Add to them the heads of district executives, police chiefs, court presidents, prosecutors, etc. which are also not holy. Even if we assume that they passed most of the stolen money above, still they will collect in total 50-70 billion dollars, which is quite enough to solve social problems.

In Georgia, after M. Saakashvili came to power, the state achieved the return of huge stolen funds. And everything was done transparently and the people saw how much was returned and where the money was.

The current government has moved to the stage of "self-destruction" and it remains to wait a little. "We must be ready for this, think and form a new team. This work is already underway," Mammadov added. -0-