Illegal Tenants in Journalists' Houses Can Be Evicted

Baku/22.01.21/Turan: Last year, residents of two 16-storey houses for journalists in the Sabail district of Baku were invited to the General Prosecutor's Office to testify about the legality of obtaining apartments.

The journalists answered questions about themselves and other residents who received apartments for free in accordance with the presidential decree. Judging by the fact that on January 15, the Prosecutor General's Office published an official message about the arrest of the former executive director of the State Media Support Fund Vugar Safarli and the director of Portos LLC Nadir Maharramov, who are responsible for the construction and distribution of apartments in the two houses, the investigation has been completed.

They are accused of embezzling more than six million manats of state funds allocated for the needs of the press in 2013-2019, as well as other offenses.

A third residential building for journalists in the same area was built in 2020 and is not inhabited.

“I live in the first building, here, in principle, everything was fine, the chief editors were given apartments out of competition, as if from the president personally. There were rumors about the second house that there was fraud, they gave apartments not to journalists, but to relatives, close people, secretaries of responsible officials - even for bribes. Last year, most of the residents of the second building were invited to the prosecutor's office and testified,” one of the journalists living in this house answered Turan's questions.

“In the summer, I was once summoned to the Prosecutor General's Office. Now, probably, 15-20 tenants will be called,” answered another, who received an apartment in the second House of Journalists.

Both responded on condition of their anonymity.

The sites dominant.az and yeniavaz.com published articles, the authors of which claim that the investigation identified 20 recipients of apartments who had no legal basis for a presidential gift. The list of apartment recipients is expected to be revised, illegal tenants will be evicted from buildings.

Journalists Fargana Allahverdigizi, Elnura Abysheva and others shared their remarks on FB that 20 revealed violations are very few, in fact there are more illegal recipients. About half of the apartments in the second building are rented, that is, those who have received this housing do not need it, the journalists report.

F. Allahverdigizi: “In the second building more than half of the apartments were received as a gift by illegal means. The investigation needs to be deepened. "

Rumia Miraslan reports on the outrageous case of an apartment allocated in the first house to journalist Fariz Veliyev. In 2017, the recipient died of cancer and then Safarli appropriated his three-room apartment.

At Turan's request, the General Prosecutor's Office said that due to the ongoing investigation, the information could not be disclosed.

Sources of Turan report that when distributing apartments, the points of the rule established by the State Support Fund for the Media on the right to receive housing were violated by journalists who have 3 (daily newspapers), 6 (websites and agencies) and 10 (television and radio) and more years of work experience in the media. In fact, even those who have never worked in the media have received apartments. Also, the right to a presidential gift was deprived of journalists with convictions and penalties from the Press Council. However, according to the editor-in-chief of Reallig.info Ikram Rahimov, journalists who were disliked by the authorities were arrested, convicted and reprimanded due to the publication of articles that were disagreeable to the authorities, they were repressed at the request of the presidential aide Ali Hasanov. Thus, they were deprived of the right to receive an apartment, despite the difficult living conditions. Rahimov also accuses the chairman of the Press Council Aflatun Amashev and the chairman of the Trade Union of Journalists Mushvig Aleskerli of the machinations. The latter rejected the accusations during an open discussion on the Political Platform internet forum.

Turan News Agency was the only media outlet that refused apartments.     —0—