The likelihood of keeping Elmar Mammadyarov as a Foreign Minister fell sharply

It was incredible: “people in black” unexpectedly came to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan. These people often "visited" officials of local, regional executive authorities and central offices of other ministries; but “people in black” have never “visited” the Foreign Ministry, which for the world is the personification of Azerbaijan, although as it turns out now, they had enough reasons to visit it. Probably, they did not have the highest permission.

On July 3, 2020, the State Security Service (SSS) arrested officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Farhad Mollazade, Salim Alizade and Nurupasha Abdullayev for abuse of authority, misappropriation and receiving bribes, stated a message on the official website of the SSS.

In recent months, documentary evidence has appeared in our press that the sons of Minister of Foreign Affairs made purchases in New York costing millions of dollars. Of course, someone believes the version the Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his sons walked along the road and found a bundle of money. However, in society, there are other versions of the source of funds for buying apartments in New York, and therefore Foreign Ministry spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva said that she does not know anything about the minister’s family, and the Foreign Ministry is asking the State Security Service to protect the ministry from malicious attacks. The State Security Service defended by arresting three officials of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Three people in the Foreign Ministry have been arrested for corruption. It is not reported what they had stolen, but society knows about appointments to the posts of consuls and ambassadors in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for giving job after getting bribe; and the sum is noted. This source of corruption is the most probable, although in any ministry there are many ways to fill your pocket with money. For example, repairing a building, purchasing computer equipment, repairing company cars, etc. The last acquisition was on March 5, 2020, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a tender for the purchase of equipment and software.

The building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the USSR was beautiful (then another government agency was located there.) Then they covered it with clumsy curly plates to give pomposity; it is a very good chance for laundering unmeasured amount of money this way. Moreover, one of the detainees was the head of the tender commission in the Foreign Ministry.

This is half of trouble. Maybe something else arises from what has been said, and then it is quite a disaster. As it turns out now, that the workers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are as faulty as “ordinary” citizens. Some grow cannabis on the balcony; others supply prostitutes to wealthy European diplomats, while others misappropriate money allocated for the purchase of goods and services (tenders) for the Foreign Ministry.

If the employees of the Foreign Ministry are thieves like others, what prevents them from selling state secrets and fulfilling orders of foreign services to promote the policies of other states in Azerbaijan? Of course, the list of foreign states that are interested in having their bribe taker in our Foreign Ministry is small. Necessarily all our neighbors and large states, geographically far from Azerbaijan are in this list.

Please, do not blame for this assumption of blasphemy and inflating bubbles. Previously, in the Ministry of National Security (predecessor of the State Security Service) were revealed and rendered harmless inveterate bandits and a spy working for another state. What then to expect from the Foreign Ministry?

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that after such an event, which has been launched, at the highest level, the likelihood of the keeping Elmar Mammadyarov as a foreign minister drops sharply.

P.S. In a network discussion of the arrests in the Foreign Ministry, the former KGB lieutenant colonel Akif Hasanov and former Foreign Minister Tofig Zulfugarov suggested a version of the discovery of "moles" - spies of foreign intelligence services in the Foreign Ministry. A. Hasanov draws attention to the important wording in the statement of the State Security Service: "actions ... causing significant damage to the interests of society and the state protected by law." Damage to the state is a state crime, and this is no longer a banal theft from the budget ..., - A. Hasanov notes.