The Prosecutor's Office investigates embezzlement in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism during Abulfaz Garayev's management

Baku/23.07.21/Turan: An investigation initiated by the Prosecutor General's Office following the information about violations in public fund distribution received from the Accounts Chamber.

According to the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office, it was established that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism under a contract with LLC "Rəqəmli Dövr" paid this company on November 14, 2018 a large amount for brochures and maps. However, they had not actually been purchased.

Besides, in 2017-2018, within the framework of three "Shopping festivals" the Ministry of Culture and Tourism paid huge budget funds to Azərbaycan Konqreslər Bürosu LLC for advertising services even despite the fact that all advertising collateral was placed on TV channels at no charge.

Also, the investigation found out that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism when fulfilling contracts for various services, wrote off budget funds without any documents, as well as overestimated the funds for event execution.

According to these facts, a criminal case was initiated in the Main Anti-Corruption Department under the Prosecutor's General Office under Article 179.4 (embezzlement on a particularly large scale) and 308.2 (abuse of official powers that entailed serious consequences) of the Criminal Code.

It should be noted that this is the second criminal case against the former management of the abolished Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

In 2020, Deputy Minister of Culture Rafig Bayramov and head of the State Service for Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage Zakir Sultanov were brought to criminal responsibility for abuses. Minister Abulfaz Garayev just fired. - 06D-