The Investigation Department of Grave Crimes of the General Prosecutor's Office has begun a tax audit in the Center for Monitoring of Elections and Democracy Training (TSMVOD - local abbreviation).
This information in an interview with Turan was confirmed by the head of TSMVOD Anar Mammadov.
Prosecutors are interested in the financial records of NGOs.
Mammadov links the checking with projects implemented by TSMVOD.
In connection with the investigation secret Mammadov refrained from further comment.
TSMVOD is a leading independent Azerbaijani NGOs specializing in elections.
Note that TSMVOD and its predecessor, the Election Monitoring Center, have monitored elections in Azerbaijan since 2001. It is included in the European Network of Electoral Monitoring Organizations ENEMO and is a member of the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), which unites 12 NGOs from Russia, the European Union and countries of Eastern Partnership.
TSMVOD observers watched the presidential election on October 9 for 15 per cent of polling stations covering all 120 districts, and noted numerous violations of the law.
Strange in this case is that the tax matter is checked not by the Ministry of Taxes, but the prosecutor's office, which reinforces suspicions of political background of the check of an independent and credible NGO.
Earlier this spring, the prosecutor's office arranged a check and sealed the office of a non-profit organization Free Thought University - an educational project, implemented with the support of U.S. donors.
In addition, under pressure from the authorities of Azerbaijan the activities of the National Democratic Institute of the United States were actually suspended after the government-controlled media gave a leak on banking operations of the head of the Baku office of the American NGO.
It is noteworthy that the project of monitoring elections on October 9 by TSMVOD was supported by a number of international donors, including the U.S. government's Agency for International Development USAİD.
Earlier, Azerbaijani officials expressed irritation with the U.S. State Department that criticized violations during the presidential elections on October 9. -06D -
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