Litigation between Baku Steel Company and ex-MP

Baku/02.11.19/Turan: Chairman of the Baku Steel Company Supervisory Board, Rasim Mammadov, filed a lawsuit against azpolitika.az and businessperson Nazim Beydemirli, a former deputy.

The reason for the lawsuit was a Beydermirli post on Facebook a year ago.

“The monopoly does not allow better quality and cheaper fittings to be imported into Azerbaijan. Imagine that the Baku steel company sells products from scrap metal for the price equivalent to 780 dollars. Products from Iranian ore are sold in Georgia for $ 385, including transportation costs. After paying VAT, the price of fittings does not exceed $ 454.

The difference in price of 326 dollars (between the prices in Azerbaijan and Georgia - note. Ed) is the reason that apartments in Georgia are cheap and expensive in Baku.

P.S Unlike Georgia, we have a 15% import duty. However, even after paying it is possible to deliver better products to Azerbaijan for $ 250 cheaper than Baku steel products. However, they don’t give an opportunity," Beydemirli wrote.

Baku Steel Company LLC and its leader filed separate lawsuits against Beydermirli, demanding to collect 100,000 manat from each claim.

The Nizami District Court found that Beydemirli, in his post, damaged the business reputation of the company and Mammadov personally. Therefore, he must publish a refutation on his Facebook page (stating that the Baku Steel Company is not a monopolist - note. Ed.), and pay the company and its leader 5,000 manats in compensation.

On October 31, the Baku Court of Appeal examined the response of the ex-deputy.

The representative of Beydermirli requested a second linguistic examination. The fact is that the Baku Steel Company filed a lawsuit against not only the ex-deputy, but also the Azpolitika publication for the article "The monopoly does not let cheap valves into the country." This article cites the Beydemirli post.

During the first examination, a joint opinion was given on the article in the publication and on the post of Beydermirli. According to  the lawyer Kenan Ismayilov, in conclusion, expressions that were not found in the Beydemirli publication were recognized as damaging the business reputation. For this reason, the lawyer pointed out the need for a separate examination of the publication of Beydermirli. However, the court rejected the application.

At the same time, the defense indicated that the other day, the President of Azerbaijan in his speech at the meeting touched on the problems of monopoly and not healthy competition. Companies with a market share of more than 35% are considered dominant.

“In the speech of the head of the State Customs Committee at the same meeting, it was indicated about the dominant position in the market of this company. The head of the state committee, speaking about the price of valves and lowering prices in Iran, said: “After negotiations with domestic producers, the largest producer in this area - the Baku Steel Company, we decided to raise duties to protect domestic producers.” the quote is the site of the Customs Committee,” said the lawyer.

He noted that in the status of Beydemirli there is no damage to the business reputation of the company and its leader. However, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the trial court. Beydemirli said he would file a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court. He hopes that after the president’s speech on monopolies, the Supreme Court will consider the case more fairly and will not serve “bureaucratic entrepreneurship”.

"This lawsuit is actually aimed at silencing a public figure," Beydemirli said, noting that his affair with the Baku Steel Company has been going on for many years. “This company in 2012 launched a raider attack on 20 metallurgical enterprises. As a result, most of them ceased operations,” Beydemirli said. –21C-