Lawyers: Jahangir Hajiyev - a victim of the intrigues of the Finance Minister

A lawsuit against the  head of the International Bank Jangir Hajiyev  was conducted with gross procedural violations. It also continued  at the trial, stated at a press conference on Thursday, lawyers Fakhraddin Mehdiyev and Agil Laidzhev. Mehdiyev pointed to the illegality of investigation in the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC) of the MIA.

In 2005 MIA high ranking officials were involved in the kidnapping of the head of the wife of Jangir Hajiyev, the  head of the  International Bank of Azerbaijan. Therefore, the  conducting  investigation by the Ministry of Interior   makes questionable the impartiality of the investigation.

In addition, one of the Articles of charges - 308.2 (abuse of power, resulting in serious consequences) of the Criminal Code refers to the competence of the prosecutor's office.

In violation of the law, Hajiyev was kept for  38 days  in prison of the GDCOC, which is a gross violation of the law. All complaints of protection on these procedural violations have gone unheeded.

At the same time are violated the rights of  Hajiyev’s relatives: ban on leaving the country of his sister Amina Hajiyeva and she  is not allowed to  inherit her mother’s apartment. Hajiyev is  not allowed  to meet with  a notary, that violates his civil rights. His niece was  dismissed  from the post of the  first deputy chairman of the International Insurance Company.

Another lawyer Laidzhev pointed out that in the 2010-2014 the activity of  IBA was checked by the tax office and the prosecutor's office. The criminal case was closed due to lack of criminal evidence. All testing was initiated by MBA Finance Minister Samir Sharifov. The lawyer admitted the conflict between Sharifov and Hajiyev. According to the lawyers, all of the major projects for which loans have been allocated under the leadership Hajiyev were successfully implemented, and presented at the state level as the economic achievements of the country.

 Asking the question from Turan correspondent how things were with the project "Caspian islands" (the construction of the city in the sea), the lawyer said that this project is not in the charge materials. According to lawyers, the investigation incriminates Hajiyev assigning only 35 million AZN, with which he disagrees. Hajiyev, members of his family and relatives returned to IBA shares for 184 million manat.

With what money these shares were acquired? Answering this question, Laidzhev said that these shares were bought on credit of the Bank and the loans were repaid.

Since the International Bank  was an OJSC, under the additional issue,  it was not recommended to purchase shares by unauthorized persons, the lawyer said. According to him, such an order was given Hajiyev "from the tope",  and the  IBA’s charter allowed privileged position of shareholders and give them the right to priority purchase of shares.

Being asked  who gave Hajiyev such instructions, the lawyer refused to answer citing a lack of information.

The judges are also trying to protect against awkward questions of key witnesses, responsible officials  of the IBA, although they were directly responsible for the issuance of loans, the lawyers complained.

The court also refused to summon at the trial  the  representative of the Ministry of Finance,  who  accused Hajiyev  of the taking out to the offshore about $5 billion. If the Ministry of Finance had such information, why they did not commit this investigation, Mehdiyev said.

Protection is going to insist on acquittal  of Hajiyev, and has sent a complaint to the ECHR on the arrest of the former head of the IBA.-06C-