What's going on at the Media Development Agency?

Baku/05.11.21/Turan: Information has spread about cuts in the Media Development Agency of the Azerbaijani Republic.

The reports claim that the Agency's employees had initially been assigned to unreasonably high salaries. About 50 employees received salaries in the amount of 2500-3000 manats. This led to the depletion of the Agency's budget, so the latter appealed to the Ministry of Finance for funding. However, following consultations with the political leadership, the Ministry of Finance declined to fund, and the cuts began in the Agency.

Turan agency appealed to the Media Development Agency for clarification on these media reports; however, no response came within two days.

It has to be kept in mind that the Media Development Agency was set up on January 12 this year by Decree of President Ilham Aliyev.

In line with the Presidential Decree "on deepening media reforms in the Republic of Azerbaijan", a public legal entity "Media Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan" was set up on the basis of the State Support Fund for the Development of Mass Media under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. As a result, the "charter of the Media Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan" was adopted.

Note that the Agency's predecessor, the State Support Fund for the Development of Mass Media, was dissolved in 2020, and its management is currently imprisoned for financial embezzlement.

According to the criminal case materials, the head of the Foundation Vugar Safarli and other defendants overrated in the budgeted-design the funds intended for the construction of buildings for journalists, and overvalued the cost of work and materials, etc.

As distinct from the Media Development Agency, the charter of the Media Support Fund contained no authority to engage in entrepreneurial activity.

A number of experts warned that providing the Media Development Agency with the authority to conduct commercial activities could lead to unfortunate consequences.

Head of the Turan News Agency, Mehman Aliyev pointed out that when the Media Development Agency was established, it was endowed with three functions: regulation, state control and implementation of commercial activities. "We were opposed to the fact that three conflicting functions were combined in one hand. This concentration of powers posed risks for abuse, especially, in the commercial sphere. Unfortunately, our fears have come true."

To his thinking, it is necessary to review the Agency's powers to set control over it through the state, society and the press.

Lawyer Alesker Mammadli said that if we compare the standards of a civil servant and an agency as public legal entity, the Agency's standards are determined by several factors. "When we talk about standards, we mean the salary fund, its amounts and more. The reason why the Media Development Agency has recently switched to the format of a public legal entity lies in the fact that it has overcome the standards of public service."

In his view, the classification of the lower and upper salary limits in the civil service is very strict. "There used to be a system of "packages". In case where salaries are low, it is not possible to hire people for service without a "package" system. In this situation, a public legal entity is formed, and an imitation of commercial activity is created within its framework, including high salaries. This refers to all public legal entities."—0—