Prosecutor Asks to Sentence Former Head of International Bank to Seventeen Years

In the trial of the former head of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) Jahangir Hajiyev on Tuesday the Prosecutor Farid Nagiyev spoke.

He asked to sentence Hajiyev to 17 years in prison.

The prosecutor also urged to sentence seven other defendants in the case to long prison terms: Ilgar Abdullayev – to 8 years, Yusif Alekperov – to 11 years, Ibrahim Huseynov – to 11 years, Anar Sultanov – to 8 years, Mohammad Jahangirov – to 8 years, Kanan Orujov – to 7.5 years, and Azad Javadov – to 12 years and 11 months.

The prosecutor said that fraud and theft also involved the wife of the head of IBA Zamina Hajiyeva, who is hiding abroad.

The public prosecutor also requested the confiscation of the jewelry confiscated from Hajiyev’s apartment in favor of IBA.

Commenting on the prosecutor’s performance for Turan IA, the lawyer Fakhraddin Mehdiyev said the prosecutor's accusations are unfounded. The matter should be seen not as a criminal, but as a civil case. ‘Our client denies his guilt and we will say this in our speech,’ he said, adding that the trial will continue on 3 October.

* Along with Hajiyev before court stand the former leaders of IBA subsidiaries: Anar Sultanov, Yusuf Alekperov, Ilgar Abdullayev, Kanan Orujov and Mahammad Jahangirov, as well as the former director of the Baku plant for the processing of nuts Azad Javadov. They are charged under articles 179.3.1, 179.3.2 (embezzlement on a large scale by an organized group), 308.2 (abuse of power, resulting in grave consequences), 309.2 (abuse of power, resulting in grave consequences), 313 (forgery), 228.1 and 228.4 (illegal purchase, transfer, selling, storage, transportation or carrying of fire-arms, accessories to it, and the supplies) of the Criminal Code.

Hajiyev has resigned as head of the IBA 18 March 2015 "for health reasons". After this a number of former high-ranking employees of IBA and businessmen who had received large loans from the bank were arrested. According to unofficial data, the amount of bad loans in the IBA reached 6 billion dollars. Hajiyev was summoned for questioning, following the resignation of the Minister of National Security, his close relative Eldar Mahmudov on October 17. On December 5 Hajiyev was arrested. According to the lawyer, he was charged with the misappropriation of 42 million manats, which was returned to the state in the form of the bank’s shares for 80 million manats. -16D-