The case involving the Minister's brother

Baku/26.09.23/Turan: In Azerbaijan, where the economy is concentrated in the hands of oligarchs sitting in state chairs, there are many stories united by a common plot: businessmen seek the patronage of high-ranking officials, take people from the inner circle of these officials as shareholders or conduct joint business with them. It ends with the fact that the relatives of the official appropriate the property of these businessmen, the case falls apart, and the victims' appeals to the court do not lead to anything significant.

In 2008, the family of businessmen Elkhan and Lyuba Bagirovs from the village of Zira agreed to cooperate with Deputy Elton Mammadov, the brother of the then Minister of Transport Ziya Mammadov. E.Mammadov, being a people's deputy and legislator, did not have the right to have his own business, so he actually owned and managed “Yuzhuralprogress LLC” (established in 2005), in which L. Bagirova was listed as the founder and director. The company began to purchase road construction equipment for the Ministry of Transport in “Dormash JSC” (Orel region) in Russia. In 2012-2014, “Yuzhuralprogress” mediated the conclusion of a contract for the purchase of road construction equipment for “Azeryolservice” OJSC headed by Javid Gurbanov. “Azeryolservice” was part of the Ministry of Transport. The total amount of the transaction is $17 million and 6,100 million manats. All contracts were "protected" by Elton Mammadov, receiving from this 20% of the specified amount, which, according to him, was personally transferred to Zia Mammadov. The money was brought to Mammadov directly from the bank, in a collection car and under guard. Elkhan and Lyuba Bagirovs did not personally meet with the listed heads of state-owned companies, all contacts passed through Elton Mammadov," L. Bagirova explained to Turan.

Since the Bagirovs did not have such a large amount of cash in their hands (20% for E. Mammadov), they sold part of their real estate, paid the other part by transferring a bill of sale to E.Mammadov for a five-storey historical building belonging to them in the center of Baku.

But, as it turned out later, the director of the “Dormash” subsidiary (“Dormash-International”) Evgeny Voropayev did not receive the entire amount of the contract. He received a bank transfer of only one and a half million dollars under the first contract. Most of the money remained in Baku, although 35 bulldozers and other equipment arrived in Azerbaijan. According to the contract, only 60 units of equipment were to be delivered.

The only thing that was clearly conducted in this story was the transfer to Deputy Elton Mammadov of the money (20%) given to him by the Bagirovs allegedly for transfer to the heads of the Ministry of Transport and “Azeryolservice.” In business circles, such an amount is called a "cap", the Bagirovs took it on loan from the “Azerbaycan Beynalxalq Bankı” and “Kapital Bank.” Subsequently, Kapital Bank transferred the Bagirovs' debt to “Aqrar Kredit Bankı.” The Bagirovs sold their existing property, returned part of their bank debts, remaining indebted to 5,200 million to Kapital Bank and 3,200 million to “Aqrar Kredit Bankı.” They cannot even pay the interest on this debt, since the Mammadov family has completely bankrupted businessmen, and Elkhan Bagirov is seriously ill. There are no funds in the family even for the treatment of a person brought to a hospital by an imperious corrupt official.

Lyuba Bagirova, who told Turan about the difficult history of cooperation with the family of Zia Mammadov, now stands in front of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences, where former deputy Elton Mammadov now works as head of the department, after the dismissal of his brother Zia Mammadov from the post of Minister of Transport. She is waiting for a meeting with Elton, demands from him to compensate for losses in order to return at least a five-story house, after selling which the Bagirovs will pay off their bank debts. E. Mammadov owes the Bagirovs 5,600 million manats taken by them from banks, and one and a half million manats of interest that the Bagirovs paid to banks. Mammadov's assistant obstructs this meeting, calls Bagirova and says that the chief is ill.

Turan spoke with E. Mammadov's lawyer - Sadig Bagirov. The lawyer conveyed Mammadov's words that Lyuba Bagirova owed him a large sum of money, the lawyer did not report the amount. Mammadov demands to repay the debt. In order to evade the return of money, L. Bagirov pursues Mammadov, defames his name, making false accusations. According to the lawyer, his client turned to the mediation service engaged in pre-trial settlement of conflicts. If the Bagirovs do not come to an agreement with E. Mammadov at the mediation stage, the former deputy will be forced to go to court.

"We prefer to resolve the conflict in a civilized way, rather than arranging public scandals," the representative of Elton Mammadov added.

The Bagirovs' lawyer, Aslan Ismailov, informed Turan of his intention to file a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office accusing E.Mammadov of fraud. As A.Ismailov told Turan, the Bagirovs' intention to resolve the conflict in a pre-trial manner turned out to be fruitless, the second party evades responsibility and the return of the funds taken away.

Lawyer A.Ismailov commented on the words of his colleague Sadig Bagirov: "If Lyuba Bagirova has to repay the debt taken from E. Mammadov, then why is Mammadov not looking for her, and Bagirova is standing at the door of the Academy of Sciences wanting to meet with Mammadov, and hears from the assistant statements about the ongoing illness of the boss?", A.Ismailov was surprised.—0—