At trial of the leadershiop of the Ministry of Communications

Trial  in the case of 11 senior officials of the Ministry of Communications and its structures continued today in the Baku Serious Crimes Court. People engaged in laying and repair of telephone lines  gave testimonies. The former head of the Baku Telephone Center, one of 11 defendants, Baitullah Huseynov tried to explain that in fact there was no reason. "We just do not have time to register documents on time, and all the work has been carried out and there is no crime," he said.

The witnesses - employees of numerous technical structures of the Ministry, confirmed that they registered false documents signed under the documents for the purchase of materials  at especially increased prices, and conducted false tenders. They also confirmed that every month they received  in "envelope" - informal wages.

At the same time, most of the witnesses were trying to avoid their testimonies given during the preliminary investigation, saying that they forgot what happened. This angered the judge Afgan Hajiyev, who threatened to "forgetful" witnesses criminal responsibility for attempting to mislead the court.

The next  trial will be held on December 21.

Eleven heads of the Ministry  are charged with embezzlement and fraud amounting to more than 70 million manat.-36D-